Digicross Advanced: Rise of Darkness
by Josh Johannesen
Summary: After a very long delay, a new episode is here! The second half of Fallarbor Conference, plus the fight of the century! ... That happens to involve two characters who don't really care for one another. Tune in and see!
1. RoD 1: Crossroads of Hoenn Part 3

Josh: Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you to the highly delayed Season 2 of Digicross Advanced. I truly apologize for the massive delay, but here we are, ready to get things rolling once again. If you've come here hoping to find Season 1, then I'm sorry, but you won't find it here. Instead, paste this ahead of the website you're on right now: /s/2216524/1/Digicross_Advanced and read up. Go on, I'll wait...

*waits a few minutes or so* Read up? Good. Then you're ready to begin anew. Now, as always, I do not own Pokémon or Digimon or anything else you will see along the way this season. And believe me, there will be some surprises. I will post separate disclaimers as we come to them.

At the end of this episode, I will tell you about the Season 2 Omake Finale, but for now, Digicross Advanced Enterprises is proud to present a FireOne Productions collaberation. The first episode of Rise of Darkness and the third part of Crossroads of Hoenn. Enjoy. *bows to the crowd and leaves stage as curtains open on Part 3*

Mauville had most assuredly seen better days. As for worse, no one, not even the few retired soldiers could honestly say they'd seen anything quite as bad. And what made it all worse is that the damage was only done to roughly one block, not to mention the collateral damage most everywhere else, as well as the flood damage.

Josh Johannesen sat on a park bench near the still smoldering remains of the court house with an officer sitting next to him taking notes. He sighed and wondered what time it was... It had to be at least nine at night due to the darkness. He focused back on the officer's questions. "So you don't think that Trey actually knew what was going on, do you?"

Josh shook his head and stretched slightly, ignoring the bruised ribs. "I think Trey may have had an idea of what was happening, but that was it. Actually, I think he was more surprised at what happened the first day of court than the rest of us."

She looked up at Josh curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Well, as I was saying.... Someone had changed the time and date of the court hearing and we barely made it in time..."

----------

A FireOne Production

Story by: Trey Miller

Teleplay by: Josh Johannesen and Alan Wilkinson

Digicross: Advanced, Chapter 31 Or Rise of Darkness, Chapter 1

Crossroads of Hoenn, Part 3

"From Genesis to Revelation"

----------

Day Three

The Hoenn-Destined, Trey, Alan, Jessie, Mandy and the two partner creatures barely made it to the last seats in the middle of the court room when the Bailiff said: "All rise for the honourable judges Marshall, Ackerson, and Peters." Without hesitation, everyone stood and waited patiently while three men in their fifties to enter through the door to the left and make their way to the raised platform.

The judges were each dressed in darkened midnight-blue robes with a white frilled collar. They each wore a thin chain necklace with a Pokéball and gavel pendant. The first judge to sit down was an extremely tanned man with a full head of greying hair and a pair of wire rimmed glasses pushed up on his face. The middle judge was a portly and pale man, bald, with small eyes that seemed to never stop moving around the room. The third, and last judge was a thin man with a long grey ponytail and an open and honest face. As everyone sat down, middle judge shuffled some papers in front of him and cleared his throat.

"I am Judge Marshall. On my right is Judge Peters, and to my left is Judge Ackerson. I want to take the opportunity to thank everyone for coming early today for this... hastily rushed case." At this he glared out into the audience at someone, "so without further adieu, Bailiff, call the first case."

The Bailiff nodded and cleared his throat. "Yes sir. Case number 95137, Hoenn Tribunal versus James Morana and Kyle Evanick on charges of terrorism, criminal acts, belonging to a terrorist organization, as well as-"

"Yes, yes. I'm fairly certain everyone knows what the charges are," sighed Judge Ackerson, rubbing his nose where his glasses rested. "Call them in, please."

The Bailiff didn't even bat his eye at the interruption. He stepped over to a door to the right and opened it and motioned inside. He stepped out of the way as James and Kyle stepped out wearing slacks, dress shirts, ties, and a blazer and handcuffs. The two looked around the room and gave a half hearted smile toward their friends and Ryo and Casey had to grab Jessie to keep her from standing up and doing something stupid. From behind the two teens came a short, skinny man with large glasses and a bad case of shakes.

They were lead over to the table and sat down, while the shaking man came forward and spoke to the judges, "I- I am the attorney in change of rep- representing m-my clients, James Morana and K-Kyle Evanick."

Judge Marshall looked down at him and sighed, "Your name, sir?"

"S- Simmons, your Honors. Gregory S-Simmons."

Judge Peters made a note on some papers in front of him. "Very well, Mr. Simmons, how do your clients plead?"

Mr. Simmons looked back at the two boys and quickly looked back to the Judges. "G- Guilty on all counts, your Honors."

After a stunned second of silence, Kyle jumped to his feet, "Now just wait a second! I never said anything about me being guilty!" James was jumping up and saying the same as Judge Marshall slammed his gavel on the post.

"Order! I will have order in my court, else I'll have you both up on additional charges!"

The room was abuzz and this time, Ryo and Casey were right beside Jessie (and Josh) standing up and shouting.

Judge Marshall's tanned face turned red and he slammed the gavel repeatedly. He snarled at the Destined standing, "I said order! Sit down and shut up or I'll have you lot tossed out of here!"

"You and what army?" Alan growled.

"Mauville City Territorial Army, actually." Judge Ackerson replied, bemused. "Please, will _everyone_ calm down." and here he shot a look at Judge Marshall, who glowered back at him.

Trey, Dakarimon and Mandy were able to get everyone settled back down enough for the court to continue.

Judge Ackerson frowned, "You said your clients plead guilty, yet they don't appear to like that idea. What is going on here, Mr. Simmons?"

Mr. Simmons suddenly looked extremely nervous and he looked between the accused, the judges, and out at the audience. He stuttered, "Your Honors, my, my clients obviously h-have developed a case of the n-nerves. I'm certain this is w-what c-caused them to change their d-decision."

In the audience, Trey sighed and stood, catching the eyes of the judges and the Destined. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed, "Your Honors, under the Hoenn League Treatise, I declare their social advocate unfit and respectfully request he be removed from this trial."

Judge Ackerson's eyebrows shot up in surprise and he looked at the other two judges. Judge Peters snorted and shook his head. Judge Marshall looked at Trey quizzically, "You are willing to be their social advocate then?" Trey nodded. "What experience do you have, mister...?"

"Trey Miller, Judge Marshall. As for experience, I have spent my young life learning everything I can." Trey glanced out of the corner of his eye and his lips twitched upward at the varying looks on the groups faces. Josh and Mandy were slackjawed, Casey was grinning and rubbing her hands together, Alan was rolling his eyes in disbelief, Ryo seemed shocked and relieved, Dakarimon was facepalming, and Jessie and Meowth were looking at him like he'd grown a second head.

Mr. Simmons looked at Trey scornfully. "As if t-that is enough for you to act as a s-social advocate."

"Actually sir, unless I miss my mark, a social advocate under the Treatise is merely a spokesperson for the accused." Trey began walking toward the front of the court room, "And if memory serves, the law clearly states that the advocate should know their clients wishes."

The Judges looked between each other and shrugged, though Judge Peters appeared to be trying to hide a grin. Judge Ackerson looked at Trey and nodded. "It is this court's decision that Trey Miller shall perform the role of social advocate in this case. As such, Mr. Simmons, you are dismissed."

Mr. Simmons glared at Trey as he grabbed his bag and left the court room, unsuccessfully trying to slam the door behind him. Trey turned back to the Judges and bowed slightly. "With your permission, I would like to call a short recess so that I can go over the information that has been gathered."

Judge Marshall nodded. "Court is in recess for fifteen minutes." He rapped the gavel one and turned around to talk with the other judges quietly.

Trey glanced at Kyle and James. "Well? Let's talk turkey, guys."

They spent the fifteen minutes deep in conversation, leaving the Destined sitting out in the crowd.

Josh leaned back in his seat and sighed. "I didn't know Trey knew the law."

Dakarimon snorted. "Trey knows just enough to stay out of, or to get into trouble."

"He's done this before?" asked Mandy.

"Nah, he's read books and seen so many episodes of Law and Order that this seems rather tame."

"Just what does he not know?" asked Jessie.

Dakarimon shrugged and leaned back. "Trey is a veritable Jack-of-All-Trades. Even before I became his partner, he was always learning and trying to know more things. It just grew worse after that."

"So what? Trey's a genius or something?"

"Or something, Josh... Jeez, even I don't know what all he can do."

"Is there anything he definitely can't do?" Alan asked.

"Be modest." Dakarimon quipped, then shook his head. "Look, I know he might sound too good to be true, but I'm not in the habit of lying. He really doesn't know what his limits are."

"That's what worries me." Alan admitted.

"Ooooh." Dakarimon grinned. "Was that a shiver I just saw go down your spine, Alan?"

"Yes." Alan replied flatly. "And the last time that happened, 11 people died."

Dakarimon snorted. "Well, if you don't want..."

"Easy, big guy." Alan said, putting his hand on Dakarimon's fur before the wolf could stand up to go. "I didn't mean it like _that_. It's just... something about this whole situation feels... "

"...like it's about to go straight to hell?" Josh asked. "Me too."

"When did you become his partner, anyway?" asked Casey.

"Back when Trey was seven. We met once before that though, when I was in my In-Training form."

"In-Training? What's dat make you now?" asked Meowth.

Dakarimon looked at the others who were just hanging on to his every word. "Geez, what is this? The Spanish Inquisition?" He snorted, "I'm a rookie level Digimon."

"_WHAT_?" The Destined chorused in shock.

"I figured Champion, minimum." Alan breathed.

"_Anyway_," Dakarimon continued, "what you need to understand is that right now, Trey's gonna be really busy trying to get this stuff taken care of."

"Real busy as in...?"

"As in, we're going to have to help him, aren't we?" asked Ryo. Dakarimon nodded.

Jessie slumped back in her seat. "So what are we supposed to do?"

Casey shrugged. "If we can figure out what's going on, we could probably try to... uhm, find evidence?"

Josh looked at her strangely, "What, you want to try to prove they're criminals? I mean, we know that James is, but..."

He was elbowed by Casey. "No, we want to get them out of this by proving that they're not criminals."

"Or at least not Kyle." Jessie deadpanned.

"Excuse me?" Mandy asked, causing Jessie and Meowth to sweat.

"Forget it," Alan told her, "They're strictly small fry."

Dakarimon snorted. "Quiet up, everyone, they're about to come back together."

Judge Marshall turned and looked directly at Trey who had stood and faced the triumvirate. "Have you reviewed the information given, Mr. Miller?"

Trey's eyebrow arched slightly and he leaned his head slightly to the side. "What information would that be, Judge Marshall?"

Judges Marshall and Ackerson blinked, their mouths agape from Trey's seeming lack of respect. Judge Peters leaned forward and scrutinized Trey closely. "The information that Mr. Simmons should have left about the case," stated he.

Trey looked at the table where Kyle and James sat at. On it sat two notepads, several pens, a pitcher of water, three glasses. He looked back at the Judges and he smiled humorlessly. "I repeat, sir," said Trey, "What information?"

The Bailiff stepped forward and quickly leafed through the notepads and looked up at the surprised Judges. He shook his head. Judge Ackerson reached under the desk and pulled out a phone handset and lifted it to his ear. "This is Judge Ackerson. Find me Social Advocate Gregory Simmons, yesterday!" He slapped the phone down and sighed.

Judge Marshall rapped the gavel on the desk. "I'm calling for this case to be postponed until this afternoon. This should give the officers plenty of time to find Mr. Simmons, as well as plenty of time for Mr. Miller to review the case. This court is dismissed until one o'clock."

The Bailiff called out for everyone to rise while the Judges stood and exited. After this, the Bailiff came to lead Trey, James, and Kyle away. Trey turned to Dakarimon who was watching and made several hand motions. Dakarimon nodded, gathered the others, and exited.

Just a few minutes later, Trey, James and Kyle were led into a room where they would have a chance to discuss their next move. Of course, Trey requested that the two prisoners be temporarily released from their bonds, but the policeman insisted they remain restrained for fear of a 'sudden attack'.

"From _who_, exactly?" Trey asked dryly. After a few moments to ponder this, the policeman agreed, at James's suggestion, to unbind the arm restraints, but leave the leg ones intact.

Trey sighed and began to talk with them. "Kyle, do you see the courts being able to get in contact with Simmons?"

Kyle shook his head and replied, "Considering how anxious he was to give us a Guilty plea, I doubt it'll be easy to get their hands on him."

James continued, "And without the notes he would have on the case, it would be nearly impossible for you to act as a proper Social Advocate."

At that remark, Trey lifted one finger in the air and wagged it for a moment, "Not so, James. If the courts can't find Simmons by the time one comes around, it'll be almost certain that the 3 Judges will be forced to postpone the trial for at least an additional 24 hours while we try to recover the data lost."

Both Kyle and James smiled, liking that idea quite a bit. At that point, James realized something and his smile was restrained a bit. "But, doesn't that mean that we'll be spending more time together behind bars?"

Trey nodded and added, "There's nothing I can do about that at this moment… but I promise you that with the help of the others, we will find out what is really going on here."

Kyle smiled a bit, despite the situation. "Thank you very much, Trey." Trey then shook his head and said simply, "Don't mention it."

After a little while, another officer came in and brought with him the case file which had been filed with the Police, something which could be used to at least get a bare-bones idea of what they were up against.

After the file was brought in, Trey went over it with a look which definitely made him look like he was quite experienced in matters of the law. Of course, as one might expect, everything in the case file was stacked up against Kyle and James, but Trey looked completely undaunted, discussing things he thought were suspect with the two accused trainers.

Meanwhile, the other Digidestined were outside the courtroom, trying to figure out what they were going to do next, not happy at all with how things had turned out… well, most of it, anyway.

Casey sighed and looked down at the floor, talking in an obviously hopeful tone. "I hope Trey is able to help Kyle through everything…"

Alan sweatdropped lightly and sighed. "I just hope the Police get their hands on that bastard Simmons…"

Josh and Ryo both nodded in agreement to that response. Jessie and Meowth, naturally, paced the courthouse, not being particularly comfortable in this environment in the first place.

Dakarimon, naturally, told Jessie and Meowth to calm down because "they weren't actually in trouble for doing anything at this point," the two Rockets continued to wander about, telling Dakarimon that all their pacing was simply a nervous habit, not only for themselves, but also for James.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't be long before the Bailiff came to announce the end of the recess of court, all without any signs of any officers with people under arrest. As the court came back into session, the Destined decided to try heading out and begin searching for evidence, realizing that without Simmons, Trey would still be without the information he would be needing to defend Kyle and James properly… which would likely see a suspension of the trial for the moment.

The Judges would soon take their places on the bench and then Judge Marshall asked the Bailiff one simple question, "Have the Police managed to find Social Advocate Simmons?"

The Bailiff shook his head and responded, "They have been trying for hours to find him, but it's almost as if he disappeared." Judge Peters looked at his two colleagues, clearly not liking the way things were going at that particular moment.

Judge Ackerson looked at the new Social Advocate and asked, "Have you been given anything to go upon?" Trey stood up and responded, "Your Honor, I have only been handed the case file, which I have reason to believe is an incomplete document, as it provides me with no information other than heresay, inferred ideas, and hypotheses; although, there is a rather interesting note to another file that discusses what items were found on their person."

The three Judges consulted with each other for a few moments and came to a conclusion. Judge Ackerson spoke for the Tribunal. "It is the decision of this court to suspend this case an additional 24 hours, granting Mr. Miller enough time to seek out additional evidence which would allow him to better defend his clients. This court shall reconvene at 1 P.M. tomorrow afternoon."

Trey nodded and said, "Thank you very much, Your Honors." The Bailiff took Kyle and James back into custody, but that was the only bad news at the moment as Judge Peters slammed down the gavel, adjourning the court for the moment.

As Trey left, along with the rest of the Gallery, one person remained behind in the courtroom for the moment. It was someone Trey would not recognize, though Mandy would, and for good reason, as the Destined had not seen him the previous day at the Police Station.

The man was the Chief of Police, who got on his cellular phone the moment everyone else was clear of the court. The conversation began moments later with one sentence, "The target managed to get the case suspended for an additional 24 hours…" This was followed by a loud "WHAT?!?!" which forced the Chief to pull back the phone for a moment.

The Chief put the phone back to his ear as the voice on the other side said, "How the hell did that happen?" The Chief responded, "One of them, Trey Miller, has knowledge of law, I suppose."

On the other side of the line was a figure standing in the shadows for some inexplicable reason. "This is unacceptable… didn't we plant someone to assure what was supposed to happen did indeed occur?" The Chief nodded and responded, "Yes, but Miller managed to stop him and have him removed."

The voice on the other end didn't sound happy about this. The voice then made a suggestion to the Chief… or rather, it would have been, were it not for the fact that the tone made it sound more like an order. "Those children accompanying Evanick… make sure they do not discover the truth. Do whatever it takes."

The Chief nodded and just before he hung up, the voice on the other end added in a menacing tone, "Don't forget that you have a vested interest in seeing this plan reach fruition." The Chief responded quickly, "I have not." He hung up, sighed and left to return to the station to begin planning.

And speaking of planning...

---

"So what now?" Casey asked.

This prompted a few blank stares, before everyone looked at Mandy. She shrugged. "I guess we split up and look for clues."

Josh and Ryo groaned. "Please, no Scooby-Doo references." Josh groused. "Too many allusions to us."

Casey grinned. "So who's who?"

Alan's stomach chose that moment to rumble loudly, causing the boy to blush.

"Well, looks like he's Shaggy." Ryo noted. "And we've already had breakfast too."

"I still haven't gotten all my strength back from yesterday." Alan grumbled, then smirked. "Besides, I've already got my own Scooby and he _definitely_ needs feeding."

Casey looked at Mandy. "Guess that makes me Velma, relatively speaking."

"You aren't that bad looking." Mandy replied, pleased at the compliment. "At least, I hope that's what you meant."

"It was." Casey smiled, blushing. "And thanks."

"Well, I'm not being on her team." Josh commented. Casey stuck out her tongue.

"You two really need to grow up." Ryo sighed.

"Tell you what, Fred," Alan remarked, "why don't you take Velma and Daphne can come with me?"

"But Daphne always goes with Fred." Ryo pointed out, giving Mandy a smile.

Alan replied blandly, "Not true. Daphne was with Shaggy and Scooby, mostly without Fred or Velma, for several episodes."

"You just don't want to be stuck with the brat either." Jessie laughed.

"Captain Obvious strikes again." Alan confirmed, making Casey scowl.

"Wait a minute." Josh spoke up. "What does that make me?"

"That." Alan replied, "makes you the babysitter."

"Gee, thank you." Jessie groused.

"You t'inking brat boy's enough to keep an eye on us?" Meowth asked.

"He'd better be." Ryo frowned. "The last thing we need is you guys doing something that'll make things worse."

"You _do_ want James freed, right?" Casey added.

"Of course we do!" Jessie snapped.

Josh smirked. "I meant, what character does that make me? We're out of Scooby Gang members."

This caused some thought. "Scrappy?" Casey suggested.

"Nowhere close personality wise." Alan countered.

Mandy snapped her fingers. "What about Vincent Van Ghoul?"

"Who?" Ryo asked.

"Magician guy from _13 Ghosts_." Alan and Casey remarked in unison, then glanced at each other in surprise.

"Oh, him." Ryo realised. "I missed that series."

"So... what does that leave us?" Jessie asked.

"How 'bout I be the pup and you be the kid?" Meowth suggested.

"The little con-artist?" Jessie mused. "I like that idea."

"You would." Alan grinned.

"So, how about we all meet back here in... 6 hours?" Ryo suggested. Everyone seemed agreeable to this and separated to go their own ways...

...though Alan was distinctly heard to mutter to Mandy. "Now all we need are the 13 Ghosts..."

---

With a certain hungry mouth to feed, the obvious place for Alan and Mandy to head for first was the Pokémon Centre. But along the way, their noses detected an odd smell.

"What is that?" Alan asked. "It must be pretty strong if I can smell it."

"I'll show you." Mandy grinned. As she led Alan towards the source of the smell, Tommy and Leo emerged from their Pokéballs, accompanied by an odd Pikachu-like Pokémon that drew stares from passers-by. All three Pokémon had mesmerised expressions on their faces. A moment later, three other Pokémon appeared by the same method: A Fearow, it's wing trimmed with pink, Jyou, and a Nuzleaf, all looking rather bemused at their companions eagerness.

"What is that?" Mandy asked, as Alan scooped the mysterious rodent Pokémon into his arms.

"This is a Pikachar." Alan said, with a grin. "Say hi, Peter."

Peter snickered. "Hi, Peter." he told Mandy, causing an audible groan to rise from Alan's other Pokémon.

"He talks?" Mandy asked. "Does he know Blabber or something?"

Not having heard of 'Blabber', Alan frowned slightly. "Nah, that's one of Kendrix's tricks." he said, indicating the Fearow.

:Pleasure to meet you.: Kendrix said. Mandy had to bite her lip from making the obvious comment.

Just then, they arrived at what seemed to be a small outside restaurant, about half-filled with trainers with various Fire-types; the rest seemed to be non-trainers enjoying their meals. A sign at the front declared the place as "Mineral Mystery."

Alan frowned as he saw the 'Fire Pokémon Only' sign underneath. "Wow, this place just screams 'Magma Hideout'." Peter growled at the idea.

"Don't think that hasn't occurred to us," Mandy said, Alan taking 'us' to mean 'the police', "but thorough checks on this place have revealed no such connections."

"Aqua, then?" Alan shrugged. "Part massive bluff, part honey trap? Water does beat Fire elementally."

"I don't think Aqua would ever let Magma forget!" Mandy laughed. "But no, it's not owned by _any_ criminal organisation. And I'm glad it isn't; this is one of my favourite restaurants."

"So why the sign?" Alan asked, noticing with relief that non-Fire Pokémon could be kept in their Pokéballs, rather than being banned entirely (which, he supposed, would be bad for business).

"I think I might know." Alan's Nuzleaf gulped.

"You ok, Cody?" Alan asked, noticing how unwell he looked.

"It's the fumes." Cody replied, swallowing.

Mandy nodded sympathetically. "A lot of non-Fire types can't handle the smells, especially Grass types."

Alan nodded, quickly returning Cody to his ball, then repeated it with Jyou and Kendrix, before following Mandy in. As they entered, they passed through a forcefield and the smell lessened considerably. Alan blinked "Well that's certainly not as distracting." _And a hell of a lot more suspicious._

"There's a table." Mandy said, pointing and they waded through the crowd. Peter continued to draw stares, but anyone close enough to comment could feel the dull heat emanating from the rodent (and see the expression on his face), thus forestalling any "that's not a Fire-type" remarks.

As they got settled, a waitress appeared, her name badge identifying her as 'Sharon'. "Hey, Mandy." she greeted. "What'll it be?"

----

As it happened, and for a variety of reasons, Mandy was completely wrong.

Sharon entered the kitchen area and quickly ducked into a side door, where her boss waited. "I can't believe that nosy bitch is here." he groused.

"That 'nosy bitch' is one of our best customers." Sharon pointed out, a tad defensively.

"You only say that because she tips well." the man snorted.

"She's also great to talk to." Sharon replied. "Not that you'd know anything about either of those things."

"Never mind that." the man replied curtly. "Was that what I think it was?"

She nodded. "Yeah. The Pikachar."

The man scowled. "If the bosses have heard, they must be throwing a fit. They've been wanting to get that experiment back for the last couple of years."

"What makes you think they've heard?"

"There was a disturbance at the Game Corner. The description of one of the kids involved fits... that boy."

"You sound almost scared of him." Sharon noted. "Who is he?"

"Trouble." the man growled. Before he could explain further (if he'd ever intended to), his mobile rang, Sharon smirking a little at the 'Darkwing Duck' ring tone.

"Hello? Ah, hello sir." the man greeted, before turning to Sharon and indicating for her to leave. As she did, she heard him ask "And what can I do for you? Huh. Well, as a matter of fact, they're both here..."

----

It only took about twenty minutes for the food to arrive. As fitting the theme, all of it was either hot, spicy or (most commonly) both. Alan amused Mandy greatly by ordering one of the blander dishes on the menu. The three Fire Pokémon had no such restraint, Leo in particular seeming determined to 'burn the roof of his mouth off', as Alan put it.

It was a few minutes into eating when Mandy asked "So what's going on with Jessie and that Meowth? They give the impression of not being entirely kosher."

Alan sighed and put down his fork. "That's... a bit more complicated than it would have been a few years back. Ever hear of Team Rocket?"

"The criminal organisation operating out of Kanto?" Mandy asked. "So they _are_ terrorists."

Alan wagged a finger at her. "Not so fast. They _were _terrorists, by certain definitions, but all Team Rocket ever did was steal Pokémon. Any 'terror' was a convenient side effect."

"That's debatable." Mandy snorted.

"As I said, just a few years ago that wouldn't have been an issue. Jessie, James and Meowth were the best of the worst. I ran into them myself when I was 9 and nearly lost Tommy for good, but for... outside interference."

As Mandy pondered this, Sharon approached their table. "Excuse me, but there's a girl on one of the other tables who'd like your autograph, but she's too shy to come over."

"That's a switch." Alan mused. "Usually it's Akiyama that gets all the fans. Do you have a pen & paper?"

"Of course." Sharon handed them over. Alan glanced at the paper, signed it, then handed it back.

"Thank you." Sharon said.

"No prob." Alan shrugged. He glanced at Mandy as Sharon left. "Stranger things really do happen..."

"It's alright." Mandy chuckled. "Back to subject; You keep using past tense. Did something happen?"

"Ash Ketchum happened." Alan shook his head. "I don't have all the details, but I can agree with what Jessie, James and Meowth have believed ever since that day: Ash's Pikachu has rare power, beyond the norm for it's species."

"You've met him?" Mandy asked.

Alan nodded. "A time or two. We once both _completely failed_ to hit Mewtwo together. Never did get to battle him in competition, though." He smiled wistfully, then frowned. "Oh and he was there to watch me explain a few things to a certain pathetic excuse for a Wobbuffet trainer."

"One of my second cousins." Mandy nodded ruefully. "You know they haven't held that festival since?"

"Good." Alan replied grimly. "As a trainer, I have very strong views when it comes to Pokémon in danger."

"It was supposed to be such a peaceful event." Mandy sighed.

"I know, but their security stank." Alan replied. "The organiser and that Jenny were quite prepared to throw Ash and me out of the festival for _stopping_ those Fighting-type trainers from hurting the Wobbuffet, but weren't doing anything to stop them themselves."

Mandy sighed. "Anyway..." she said. "What happened to Jessie, James and Meowth?"

Alan continued to explain, filling Mandy in on what he knew of the trio's history of failure. Meanwhile, the three Fire Pokémon finished their food and settled down for a nap.

"I notice you've been putting a lot of emphasis on James." Mandy said carefully.

Alan nodded. "Have you ever looked at a person and known they were good or bad?"

Mandy nodded. "Sure, but first impressions aren't always right. My first impressions of some of the guys I've slept with, for example."

Alan grimaced. "Yes, that's _just_ what my concentration needs; you and sex in the same mental image."

Mandy laughed at that. "Sorry."

"S'okay." Alan shrugged. "And I meant _really_ know, down to your _bones_? Well, My bones tell me James is one of the good guys. Hell, he's one of the kindest people I know. How James became a Rocket, I do not know..."

"Well... as you said... stranger things..." Mandy replied tiredly.

Alan glanced at her sharply. "Are you alright?"

"Not sure... tired...." Before she could say any more, Mandy slipped out if her chair, collapsing unconscious to the ground.

"Mandy!" Alan quickly crouched down next to her, but this only confirmed what he already knew. He tried to shake her awake, without success.

"Is she ok?" one of the nearby customers asked.

"Short answer, no." Alan replied. He quickly checked his three Fire-Types and was unsurprised to discover they too were unwakeable. He grabbed for his other three Pokéballs, releasing their occupants. Cody winced at the smells, but they were more bearable now.

:Trouble?: Kendrix asked sardonically.

"You tell me." Alan replied.

----

A couple of minutes later, a dozen police officers entered the restaurant. "There's Officer Jenny." one of them noted, seeing Mandy unconscious.

"But where's the boy?" another, a woman, asked.

"Spread out and find..." their Sergeant began.

Then they stopped as tissues began to fall from the sky, something which should have been impossible with the forcefield in place.

"My strength will make you cry." Alan told them, stepping into view, absently twirling the restaurant's fire-axe. "Wipe your tears on that."

"Alan John Wilkinson!" the Sergeant declared. "You are under arrest!"

"On what charge?" Alan asked.

"Terrorism." the Sergeant replied.

Alan snorted. "Play a different tune. You already arrested my friend on similar charges."

"Well, if you come with us, I'm sure we can sort things out." one of the other officers spoke up.

"Thanks for that, but I have better things to do." Alan drawled.

At a gesture, the Sergeant produced two Pokéballs and threw them, two Electabuzz appearing. The rest of the officers threw out their own Pokéballs, resulting in another 11 Electabuzz, a few of which had a strange purple glow around them.

"Well, that sure as hell makes a change from Arcanine." Alan commented, wincing mentally at the sudden change in odds. He hadn't expected Electabuzz... their Static ability was going to be murder. Realising he had little choice, Alan reached with his mind into one of his own resources, surprised at the strength he saw there. _What the hell happened to you?_ he asked it. It didn't reply.

"If you do not come peacefully, we are prepared to bring you in by force." The Sergeant stated.

_Oh well. The show must go on._ "Then we appear to be at a disagreement." Alan replied. "May I string you along?" _Maybe I can buy time until the others wake up. _

The-Officer-In Charge growled. "Electabuzz, restrain him!"

****

:Are you alright?: Kendrix asked as Mandy finally stirred.

"I think so." Mandy stirred. "What happ..." she paused, then frowned. "Something in the food?"

:I believe so. It must have been in the spices, as Alan seems unaffected."

"Where is Alan?" Mandy looked around, but found herself unable to see him, partly because of the various Electabuzz (a couple of which were unconscious, along with a few of the officers) as something dodged and weaved in-between them. The various customers had vanished, presumably having got out while they had the chance. She could Alan's Mudkip and Nuzleaf (_Cody, wasn't it? _she thought) as they battled the police monsters.

"Why the hell are there so many of them?" she asked.

"We heard about the Game Corner." The Sergeant said spoke up, plopping himself down beside Mandy. "Thought he might resist arrest."

"_Why_ are they trying to arrest him, Judai?" Mandy asked, exasperated.

"Terrorism." the newly identified Judai (no, not _that_ Judai! - ed) commented dryly.

"Of course." Mandy sighed. "Don't suppose there's any evidence?"

"Do you really think I'd be here if there wasn't?" Judai asked, handing over a paper. "He was on the latest list for confirmed Magma members. Just came in this morning."

"Convenient timing." Mandy frowned.

"That's what I said." Judai commented. "This _is_ the day the list was due to arrive, though."

"How'd we get this list anyway?" Mandy asked, frowning.

"I don't know. Perhaps we have a spy in the ranks." the Sergeant shrugged. "Why?"

"Because do you know who else is on the list?" Mandy asked, her face grim. "half the staff at this restaurant."

"Is that so?" the Sergeant asked. "Interesting coincidence. Know what else is interesting?"

:There's one Magma here not on the list?: Kendrix suggested.

"Exactly." Judai replied with a disturbing grin, then paused and turned, the minor mental clouding that had hidden Kendrix now dismissed. "Um..."

:Hello.: Kendrix commented. She then proceeded to Psybeam Judai halfway across the room, causing him to inadvertently intercept two Thunderbolts that were headed for Alan. Mandy blinked as she realised she could see the boy now, slumped against one of the tables and clearly suffering from Paralysis, but conscious and very angry.

"Jyou, Uproar!" Alan commanded. Mandy barely had time to stick her fingers in her ears before the small Mudkip made a very loud noise, fainting four of the remaining Electabuzz at a stroke. Cody fainted another with Bullet Seed. "That TM was worth every penny." Alan grinned. Training a Seedot was a nightmare with just their normal moves...

"What happened to the Sarge?" one of the remaining officers asked, glaring at Kendrix accusingly.

"And where'd that bird come from anyway?" another asked.

:I hid myself with my psychic powers.: was the dry reply. Kendrix spread her wings, using her powers to levitate herself into the air. :So, ladies and gentlemen,: She continued, raising her telepathic voice so that the entire restaurant could hear her :some of you should now be very worried. _Because I know who you are!_:

Some of the officers looked confused at all of this, but three of them, two men and a woman were indeed looking decidedly nervous. "Houndoom, Magmortar, get her!" the woman ordered, the three of them summoning three Houndoom each. At the same time, the woman summoned an odd looking Pokémon Mandy hadn't heard of, but seemed to be a really ugly relative of Magmar. Meanwhile, the woman's Electabuzz unleashed a Thunder, but Kendrix simply used Confusion to throw it back, blasting the Electabuzz back into the wall.

"They're with Magma?" Mandy asked out loud, rather dryly.

:Yes: Kendrix confirmed in the same tone. :Uh-oh.: The Magmortar had used Lock-On, a target appearing on Kendrix's chest. Meanwhile, as the Magma's recalled their Electabuzz, The Houndoom attacked the remainder of the Police Electabuzz, the rested Fire types ready to short work of the exhausted Electric-types.

"Dark Pulse!" The woman commanded. The Magmortar fired a ball of black energy at Kendrix. On paper, that should have worked, but Jyou intercepted, using Mirror Coat to block the shot and sending it streaking back to Magmortar. Jyou fainted, Mandy catching him. Meanwhile, Magmortar smirked and punched the Pulse away; it struck the forcefield and exploded.

"Fools!" The woman crowed. "No-one can withstand the heat of Magma's Flame!"

Scowling from his prone position, Alan looked towards Mandy and co, then grinned. "Flamethrower!"

Tommy, Leo and Peter had revived and they let loose with a triple blast of fire which smacked into the Magmortar clean on. It fainted instantly.

"You guys look rested." Mandy quipped.

"Amazing what a good nap can do." Tommy replied. Leo and Peter chuckled.

Alan hissed as the Paralysis made itself felt again as he tried to get up. He stopped as Sharon appeared next to him. "Here." she said, handing him a few Cheri berries.

"Thanks." Alan said, eating them gratefully. "So... the spy, I take it?"

"Yeah." she chuckled, digging out a badge.

"Pokémon Ranger." Alan realised, reading it. "Nice."

Meanwhile, Leo and one of the Houndoom Quick Attacked at each other. At the last second, the Houndoom disappeared. Recognising a Faint Attack, Leo snapped his head from side to side, catching sight of Houndoom just as it fired a Shadow Ball. Taking a direct hit to his side with little visible complaint, the fire-dog retaliated with a Fire Blast. The Houndoom didn't even have chance to land before the star of flame intercepted it, punching it through the air and slamming it against the forcefield, which electrocuted it into the bargain.

Peter back-pedalled away from two Houndoom which had apparently decided to pick on the mouse, then jumped and hit them with a Thunderbolt. They were not amused. Before they could retaliate, Jyou jumped them, using a Mudkips fabled strength to punch one Houndoom's head into the floor before Water Gunning the other. Down but not out, the second of the two tried to lunge at Jyou, but Peter used Quick Attack to boost himself up to full speed from a standing start, tackling the Houndoom and knocking it out.

Tommy dodged a Flamethrower from one Houndoom and replied with one of his own, with no apparent effect. The Houndoom fired a second blast, much stronger than the first. _Flash Fire_ Tommy realised, dodging that as well. _Wonderful_. Realising Metal Claw wasn't going to be much help, Tommy instead kicked in his Agility, Lunging forward and Slashing the Houndoom in the side. The dog twisted to try and Bite him, only for Tommy to deliver a double fisted strike to Houndoom's jaw, sending it head over tail and crashing into one of the tables.

"Five left." Alan noted as he and Sharon made it to Mandy's side. He groaned as the Houndoom Jyou had downed got up again and Shadow Balled the little frog into a wall. "Ok, six." he corrected himself, recalling Jyou.

"Maybe I can even the odds some." Mandy said. "Cover me?"

:Of course: Kendrix said. "Though I am not as useful against Dark-types, I will do what I can."

"Thanks." Mandy smiled, throwing a Pokéball. "Let's go Vaporeon!" The small blue mammal, somewhere between a fox and a fish, materialised and landed on the table next to her. A Houndoom lunged at it moments later. "Aqua Jet!" Mandy commanded. Water exploded to form a plume around Vaporeon, which leapt into the air, circling a couple of times before smacking into Houndoom and sending it flying. Vaporeon doubled back, landing on what had formerly been Alan and Mandy's lunch-table.

"Water Pulse." Mandy commanded. Above them, water collected, forming a large mid-air pool which covered the ceiling, shorting out the forcefield. "Now, Rain Dance!" In the sky, clouds began to gather and rain began to pour. As the rain hit the pool, it gained _force_, bombarding the area with thousands of water micro-pulses. Kendrix used her Confusion deflecting it away from Alan, Mandy and Sharon, and redirecting it exactly where Vaporeon had intended it to go: the Houndoom. Battered by thousands if not millions of tiny hits, they fell. Alan's Fire-types caught part of the blast, but couldn't have cared less; Leo's fur was thick enough that even enhanced rain couldn't do more than get him wet, Peter was half electric and Tommy had spent his younger years swimming...

---

A few minutes later, reinforcements had arrived, including the Chief of Police himself. Kendrix was quickly able to confirm that all of the newly arrived police were good guys.

"Sorry for all the trouble." the Chief said, which Alan dismissed with a smile. "You can confirm that Alan here is not a member of Magma?"

"Yes, sir." Sharon said. "My former boss took a call from someone who wanted his help getting Alan out of the way. Someone on your end must have added his name to the list I provided."

"Makes sense." Mandy nodded. "Any other Magma's mentioned by name?"

"Sadly, no," Sharon said, "At least not to my ears. A "Don't Ask, Can't Tell" policy, no doubt. These guys could tell us a fair bit about Magma's operations, though I doubt we'll get anything really juicy."

---

-Streets of Mauville-

Jessie and Meowth led the way down the streets, looking for trouble they could get in. Behind the both of them was an annoyed Josh, shaking his head and looking toward the sky. They passed by numerous stores, each with items that Jessie and Meowth were looking to steal, but the two of them would find their greatest temptation when passing by an electronics store.

Jessie saw a big Plasma screen TV and said, "This would look great back home, wouldn't it?" Meowth nodded in agreement, "Dat TV would really accentuate things."

Of course, Josh rolled his eyes in annoyance and asked, "Do you even HAVE a real home to return to?" Jessie gave Josh a nice glare and said, "Of course we have a real home! It's back in the Kanto region, just waiting for us to return with something for the Boss!"

Josh raised an eyebrow, before he walked onward. "Whatever," was all Josh had to say before he walked onward, getting even more annoyed looks from the two Team Rocket members, who then walked onward toward their "babysitter".

Josh looked into the sky before Jessie asked, "Why won't you let us have any fun?" Josh responded with a simple, "Because I'm 'supposed' to be watching you… though, it really doesn't seem like that's really necessary."

Meowth blinked, and then used a nice Scratch on Josh's back to try and grab his attention, needing to make some sort of trouble to make himself happy. Josh looked back for a minute, but sighed loudly, not getting one bit angry.

This really caught Jessie's attention, as she walked over to the Digidestined and asked almost mockingly, "What's wrong? Grown so jaded that you can't even get mad anymore?" Josh shook his head and said, "No…" He looked back at the sky, more annoyed than ever, but still not angry.

He then said, "I should be angry, but for some reason, I just can't get angry." This comment, which seemed innocent enough, got both Meowth and Jessie intrigued. Jessie asked, "What do you mean? You never had problems getting mad before now."

Josh looked down and said, "I have no idea, really… I have every reason to be pissed, between the fact that Kyle's been locked up for no good reason, and the fact that I've essentially been relegated to a position where I won't be able to do anything to help Kyle out…"

Jessie and Meowth looked at one another, wondering what was going on inside of Josh's mind at that moment… Josh looked at the ground again. "But, it's almost like the part of my brain which knows how to be angry has completely shut down."

Meowth asked, "Do ya think it's sometin' wrong wit' ya?" Josh rolled his eyes and said, "If I knew the answer to that, do you think I would be so annoyed by this lack of emotion?"

Jessie nodded. "Being angry isn't all it's cracked up to be." Josh then sighed, and then turned around with a cold look on his face. "One thing… Do not bring this up to any of the other Digidestined. I do not want them to think something is wrong with me."

Jessie was about to ask why, but then suddenly, a coin rolled down the street heading back the way they came. Meowth, of course, immediately started after the coin, yelling, "Come back here… my beautiful coin..." Jessie and Josh both sweatdropped before both of them ran back down the street.

Further up the street was a police blockade just waiting to spring, and when they heard Josh, Jessie and Meowth leave, each officer looked at another, before one finally realized she had a hole in her pocket, and a 25 Poke-Dollar coin was missing. The group sweatdropped, before they just packed it in for now, not wanting to be anywhere near the station when the Chief realized they had messed up THIS way.

But as it happened, they needn't have worried, as the Chief had his own problems...

---

Police HQ.

Returning to his office, the Chief had barely made it in the door when the phone rang. "Yes?"

He was unsurprised at the sharp voice which promptly demanded. "What the hell happened?"

"The rumours about that kid might be true." the Chief replied. "By the sound of things, he and his Pokémon managed to keep my men busy until Mandy woke up. And to make matters worse..."

"I heard." the voice replied. "A Pokémon Ranger. Christ."

The Chief was so intent on his conversation, he failed to spot the small bird listening in at the window. Listening very closely.

"So what do we do now?" The Chief asked.

There was a pause. Then the chief heard the last words he'd ever expected to hear. "We need to meet."

---

-Streets of Mauville-

Ryo looked at Casey and sighed, asking himself, "Why did I get stuck with the hyper one?"

Casey gave Ryo a light glare and said, "I can be just as quiet as the next person!"

Ryo rolled his eyes as they continued to search the streets. "Well, we know what we have to do, Casey… find that HQ, and find evidence that Kyle and James really aren't members of Team Aqua."

Casey nodded and continued to look at all the buildings they passed by, asking herself the proverbial question, "If I was a Team bent on corrupting the city and its people, where would I hide?"

They had already checked locations which were used in the past as fronts for other teams, including the local Poke-Mart, and the Pokémon Center, simply because most people wouldn't look there. There was absolutely nothing there, though, so the search continued through the city… However, Mauville was a massive city, and so the HQ could be anywhere within its boundaries… assuming, of course, they kept a base here at all.

Some hours after departing the Pokémon Center, though, Ryo and Casey happened upon something rather odd… an anime and manga store. Ryo joked, "If Kyle were only here to see this, he would be freaking out right about now."

Casey waved her hand off and said quickly, "He can keep it, for all I care."

Ryo shrugged. "Regardless, we should check it out anyway, just to see if that is where we need to go."

Casey looked a bit nervous at that, but nodded and followed Ryo into the store. The store was filled with everything one might expect inside of an anime store: DVDs, shirts, manga comic books, little plush dolls, and other various anime memorabilia.

While Ryo was looking about for anything which resembled something that could open a secret passage, Casey looked about at everything in the store, almost in a state of information overload. If Ryo had been looking behind him at the time, he would have been amazed at how much Casey seemed to be interested in everything… particularly when she seemed to show absolutely no interest in anything of the sort just a few minutes ago.

Fortunately for her, Ryo was far too focused on the task at hand to be at all concerned with Casey and her dealings. In fact, all he said to her was, "Let's be careful and be thorough. You never know where they might have stashed anything." It was obvious at that moment that Ryo was suspicious for some unknown reason.

Casey could have cared less about Team Aqua or her boyfriend, more interested in all of the cool stuff there was at that location. She moved through the racks of DVDs and looked at all the cute plushies, trying to decide what she should spend her hard-earned money on.

Finally, she decided on a cute little chibi Gundam plushie sitting precariously atop a shelf. After looking around and seeing that everyone was busy, she leapt up and grabbed the Gundam off the shelf. Unbeknownst to her, Casey had just triggered something massive, as Ryo would suddenly see a panel near the back of the store, conveniently behind another shelf, slide away, revealing a staircase leading downward into the basement.

Ryo blinked, not having touched anything himself, and then looked back at Casey, seeing her holding a Gundam plushie. He raised one eyebrow, then remarked, "Good job, Casey."

Casey immediately looked back at Ryo, red in the face for an instant before throwing the Gundam plushie away. "T-thanks, Ryo…" She immediately marched forward down the staircase, ahead of a sweatdropping Ryo, with only the staffers looking on, one of them pushing a button as they went down, assumedly sending an alert down to the grunts below.

Fortunately for Casey and Ryo, someone had forgotten to check if the button actually worked… for no alarm went off down below. Instead, the two of them walked in the front door, and then immediately began to do their best spy impersonations, looking for a way to sneak around the base covertly.

Their solution came in the form of a couple of air vents leading conveniently away from the room. Ryo sweatdropped and shook his head. "Well, it looks like this is the only way to get around without causing a big stir."

Casey looked up at the vents, and then gave Ryo quite a glare. Ryo gave Casey a blank stare for a moment as Casey said, "There's no way I'm going to climb up there so that you can be behind me!"

Ryo then looked down, palming his face and shaking his head. "Ugh… we don't exactly have time to be arguing over this…" he noted.

Casey was about to say something, but couldn't argue the point. But, suddenly she had an idea which made sense. Without making another sound, she threw out a Poke Ball and released Meganium. Ryo turned around, but didn't say anything, almost immediately grasping the idea Casey had in mind.

It was then that Casey said very quietly, "Meganium, lift off the cover as quietly as you can and put it down." Meganium nodded, and then used Vine Whip to very covertly take the cover off the vent heading to the left, not as if it truly mattered. She put the cover on the ground as quietly as she could, and then looked back to Casey for further instructions.

The young trainer patted Meganium, and then pointed to Ryo and the vent. The Grass-type Pokémon thought for only a moment before she used her Vine Whips to grab Ryo around the torso, causing him to lightly freak out before he was deposited inside the vent a matter of moments later. When he saw that he was where he needed to be, Ryo looked back to Meganium and gave her a thumbs-up in gratitude.

Casey motioned Ryo to crawl a couple of paces forward, then gave Meganium the same order to do to her what she did a few moments ago to Ryo. But, in addition, Meganium was told to lift the grate and put it back where it belonged when Casey was safe inside the vent.

Needless to say, Meganium was hesitant to trap her partner, but a reassuring pat from Casey gave Meganium at least enough confidence to go forward with the plan, depositing the trainer in the vent moments later before lifting up the grate and putting it back in place.

At that moment, Casey reached back with her Poke Ball and recalled her Pokémon, leaving behind no trace that they were there to begin with… and just in time, too. A patrol of Aqua grunts happened by at that moment and looked into the entryway, but found nothing to warrant further investigation.

Ryo and Casey crawled quietly through the vents, at least as quietly as one could crawl through vents. On occasion, they would see a grate which led into either the hallway, or one of the other rooms, where there was almost always at least one Grunt in the room, often doing some sort of business.

Fortunately, they were all too engrossed in their own business to pay much heed to the occasional bumping from the vent system, which proved to be a big convenience for the two infiltrators, who kept on moving through the system of vents.

What would be the most surprising to them, though, was one room in particular along the way. The room in question was actually the room where Team Aqua was storing their Water-type Pokémon. And it was actually very comfortable for the Pokémon in question.

A tank dominated the room the two Digidestined looked into now, and within were at least 10 or 15 Pokémon, relaxing and having generally a good time. This was a side of Team Aqua the team of children had not seen to this stage, but given their overall goals, it was not terribly surprising to find that the team had a great deal of respect for other Water-type Pokémon besides Kyogre. Casey wanted to say something, but Ryo simply covered her mouth and shook his head.

After admiring the tank for a couple of minutes, the two of them plodded onward through the vents. At one point, in fact, the two of them happened upon a conversation between two Aqua grunts.

"So… what do you think happened to the rest of those kids who were around those two?" One grunt asked another.

The other grunt shrugged and said, "Beats me… it's not my business until we get an order from the Boss."

Casey and Ryo decided to hang around, trying to glean any new information they could. The second grunt then remarked, "What do you think of those kids that stopped our forces back at the Game Corner?"

The first grunt immediately looked down at the ground and said, "I don't know… they're strong… that's why so many of us are still recovering."

Ryo smirked, knowing they did some real damage to the group. But, the second grunt added suddenly, "Do you think they have some sort of affiliation with Team Magma?" That was enough to almost to make Casey yell something very loudly, but Ryo covered her mouth again, this time holding her head much tighter to deliver the message that talking would give them away.

The first grunt shook his head. "Nah… I really don't think so. But, their attacks against Magma could have been a front. Sort of like that anime store above us." Both of them snickered as they walked away. Ryo then released his grip on Casey's head, Casey giving Ryo a nasty glare for being so forceful.

Ryo shrugged and they moved forward slow as ever… eventually reaching a room with 1 Grunt, a file cabinet and a computer. Ryo deduced that this was the room where they kept all records of their accomplices within Mauville's borders. Of course, there was the problem of the one grunt in the room, but as luck would have it, it was around 3 PM, so the grunt got up and yawned.

"Man… I've GOT to get me out of this office for awhile… nothing exciting to do right now…" The grunt was obviously bored with having to sit in an office all day, and went off to do something, presumably get a snack.

A perfect opportunity had arisen, and Casey came closer to Ryo and used a Poke Ball to once again release Meganium… basically to do the exact opposite of what she did awhile back in the main room.

Meganium smiled and proceeded to quietly remove Ryo and Casey from the vent, after removing the cover, of course. The first thing both trainers did… was stretch, more than happy to be out of the cramped conditions of the vent system.

After a short stretch, both of them noted a camera, which was quickly taken out by a quick appearance from Charmeleon and his Flamethrower attack. Fortunately, the security guards watching the monitors were surprisingly lazy, and they really didn't care about the loss of one camera.

When that was done, Charmeleon smirked and looked at Ryo. "Well, that was easy." Ryo nodded and turned back to Casey, keeping Charmeleon out as a lookout. "Well, we need to find the records which will prove the innocence of our friends."

Casey responded in a very sarcastic tone, "Thanks a lot, Captain Obvious."

Ryo just rolled his eyes and then said, "Look. Just head over to the file cabinet and search for any paper records they might have. I'm going to check the computer."

Casey then asked, "You know how to hack computers?" as she opened the file cabinet with Meganium's help. Ryo shrugged and replied, "Nah. I just got a hacking tool off an old friend of mine who was a hacker."

If it weren't for the fact that they didn't exactly have enough time to dive into Ryo's past, Casey would have asked about this "old friend". But as things stood, they didn't. So, Ryo threw in a disk he had in his backpack and started up a tool known as a Password Cracker, while Casey and Meganium quickly thumbed through the numerous records on file.

The cracker was a fairly effective, if a bit aged, tool used to crack the password on any computer system. Granted, it wasn't as effective as if Izzy had been there hacking the computers himself, but he was a computer master, so that went without saying.

After about 30 seconds at the terminal, Ryo entered the system, and began looking through the files rather rapidly, knowing the grunt would be back soon. Among the files he would find was one of interest regarding the layout of the base, as well as a secret passage leading out of the base to a house on the outskirts of town.

It made sense, after all. If their front was discovered, the grunts would need a way out in order to evade arrest, and a secret passageway would be the way to go. Ryo copied the blueprint onto the disk and then continued to search for information pertinent to the case at hand.

Meanwhile, Casey was using a combination of Meganium's Vine Whips and her own two eyes to find the files for Kyle and James, if they existed at all. The file cabinet was a mess, to say the least, with no particular order for the case-files at all. Casey thought to herself, _This is actually worse than my room back home_...

After another couple of minutes, Ryo found the location of the Aqua records, but found them to be far more encrypted than the actual system itself, for fear, in all likelihood, of this particular scenario. However, what wasn't encrypted was another folder labelled, "Magma Scum".

Sweatdropping when he saw the title of the folder, Ryo had a pretty good idea what he was going to find on the inside; copies of records of people Team Aqua officials had reason to believe were members of Team Magma. However, that expectation didn't prepare Ryo for what he was going to find.

Ryo looked through quite a few files when suddenly he saw a high-ranking official involved in Team Magma. All Ryo had to say as he copied the file to disk was, "Whoa…"

Casey would have walked over, were it not for the fact that finally she found them. "Got it, Ryo!" she said as she pulled out the 2 case files labelled "Kyle Evanick" and "James Morana".

As soon as Casey put the two files away, she walked over to Ryo and spied what was on the computer screen for the instant it was up before Ryo shut down the computer to cover their tracks, ejecting the disk at the same time.

He put the disk into his backpack, and then searched the shelf behind them, with Casey blinking a couple of times. When Ryo found the book appropriately labelled, "The Great Escape", he pulled it and the bookshelf slid back, revealing a long passage away from the base.

At that moment, Charmeleon said very quickly, "Ryo! They're coming!" Ryo immediately recalled his Pokémon, and Casey hers, before they both went tearing down the passage.

Unfortunately, at that moment, the grunt came in, granola bar in hand, and yelled, "HEY!" as the passage closed shut. When she went to open the passage a second time, the kids were long gone… She looked at the ground for a moment and said, "I'm going to be in so much trouble when the Boss gets a look at this…"

---

-Minutes Later-

The supervisor of Mauville's branch of Team Aqua came in and looked at the stuff which had been messed with while the guard was off getting a snack. He was quite upset with the guard, who had been slacking off on the job.

He would be even more upset a couple minutes later when he looked through the file cabinet for two reasons. The first was the obvious lack of organization when it came to keeping track of their members, but the other was the two missing case files from within the drawer.

The supervisor looked toward the secret passage and glared. "So… those children thought that they could sneak into our base, steal our secrets and get away with it?" He smirked and said very darkly, "Well… they have another thing coming… no one steals from us and gets away with it…"

He then looked at the computer screen at their primary target (who made for a rather interesting screensaver), "Isn't that right… Mr. Miller?"

---

---

"We made a pretty good team, huh?" Casey said quietly as they raced along the tunnel, changing direction several times.

Ryo looked back at his "partner", and then thought about it for a moment before smiling. "We did pretty good… when you weren't trying to yell, of course."

Casey glared, "HEY!!"

Ryo shook his head and said, mostly to himself, "Now that's the Casey we all know…"

They stopped as they reached a t-junction. "Which way?" Casey asked.

"Left." Ryo said, checking a compass in his hand, which glowed softly in the dim light. He frowned at the right-hand tunnel.

"Something wrong?" Casey asked.

Ryo pointed at the right-hand tunnel. "That wasn't on the plans." He shrugged and headed down the left-down tunnel, Casey following. They didn't have time to worry about it.

---

---

"What do you want?" Jonathan asked.

One of the Magma's smirked. "We had you phone tapped and overheard your little chit-chat with this guy." he kicked the Aqua, provoking a groan. "So we thought we'd stop by and see if we could learn anything." The man frowned. "And have a little word with you about starting fights on our territory."

"We didn't know the restaurant WAS your territory." Jonathan replied. "You covered your tracks too well. Though I now know why those officers volunteered to help arrest the Wilkinson boy. They were your people." He couldn't help noticing a few of the Magma's shuddering at the name.

"I had stock in that restaurant." Another Magma groused. "It may have started off as a cover op, but it's evolved into one of the finest restaurants in Hoenn, maybe even one of the finest in Japan, a haven for Fire Pokémon everywhere. If that incident causes the restaurant to close…" Tears started to form in the man's eyes.

Jonathan noticed only half the Magma's seemed to agree with this sentiment. The rest seemed to be fighting to keep their expressions blank. _Interesting…_

The Magma with the flamethrower didn't even bother to hide his scorn. "Can we get on, you soft bastard?" This got the Magma a sharp look; He didn't notice, but Jonathan did and part of his soul died. He'd so wanted to be wrong...

"I'm quite fond of that restaurant myself," Jonathan spoke up, "and I promise you that as long as I have any say in the matter, it won't close. There will be some staff changes of course, but the Mineral Mystery will live on." He was surprised to realise he meant it.

"I suppose we should be glad none of the chef's are our guys." One of the Magma's mused.

"WILL YOU SHUT UP ABOUT THE STUPID RESTAURANT?" The Magma with the flamethrower roared, turning it on his comrade.

Two things happened very quickly. The first was The Magma that had brought up the restaurant grabbing the barrel and forcing it skyward, a blast of flame torching the ceiling. The second was the three Kent's moving like lightning, their bonds falling away as if they'd never been there.

"That's my girl." Jonathan grinned, kissing his wife on the cheek.

One Magma decked another, spinning the flamethrower-user around before he collapsed in a pathetic heap. "IDIOT!" The first Magma roared. "Now look what you've done!"

"It's over!" Jonathan declared.

"What makes you think you can do anything?" The first Magma (the Leader?) growled

Jonathan smirked. "Never underestimate the Chief of Police. I know people who know people and have provided some very... interesting and useful information. I've just been waiting until we had enough information to bring Magma's operation crashing down. And now you've forced your own destruction."

"That's why I recruited you." The Aqua spoke up. "We knew that if we kept you on a leash we could get you to dismantle Magma while preventing you from doing the same to us."

Martha's eyes grew wide. "Jonathan!" she gasped. "Tell me it isn't true."

"Not exactly." Jonathan chuckled. "You presume much, Aqua. True, My current orders are to concentrate investigation efforts on Magma, but I have some very... independent officers. A couple of them are quite probably after my job. Now, I haven't been able to poke around too closely without raising suspicions, but I know them well enough to know that some of them have been collecting information of their own."

"You think you know everything don't you?" The Aqua glared.

"Not everything, but enough to have an idea of things." Jonathan corrected, radiating authority despite the situation. "And enough to know that you aren't the person who's been calling me." He turned and regarded his eldest son. "I'm disappointed in you, Lex."

"You knew?" Lex asked, drawing back. Martha paled.

"I suspected. Until now I've been trying to convince myself that I was wrong, but we have some very nice voice analysis software in our CSI lab that I was able to borrow some time with last night."

Lex smiled. "It appears the game is up."

"Yes, speaking of which." Jonathan drawled. "Don't you think I of all people would know when my phone is being tapped? The Magma's didn't turn up because someone overheard the call, they turned up because they were invited." He felt a gun being held to his head and sighed, his worst. "Isn't that right, Clark?"

"Well done, father." Clark drawled, his face assuming an expression you wouldn't expect from someone who shared a name with the Man Of Steel. "I'd underestimated you. But tell me, how did you know I was involved?"

"You gave yourself away when you glared at Napalm Ned over there." Jonathan replied. "But before that, I'd been paying attention to rumours. Rumours of a group of criminals who played Aqua and Magma off against each other, because they contained members of both groups, with the intent that neither Aqua or Magma would be able destroy the other. And that this mystery group was being lead by two people that were related."

"Very good." Lex noted. "For someone who wasn't poking around, you learned a lot."

"As I said, I pay attention." Jonathan retorted. "Which is how, very occasionally, here and there, I began to hear about another rumour." He turned to look at Clark, ignoring the gun. "That one of these leaders had been involved in a special project. I never learned the intent of this project, but I did learn it's name. Project Red Son." He smiled humourlessly. "And now everything falls into place."

"I apologise, mother." Lex said to a clearly distressed Martha. "But now you have both learned too much."

"Red Son." A voice commented. "You must have thought that was hilarious."

Clark smirked. "Came up with it myself. I did think it was quite cle... ver..." He trailed off as the same thought occurred to everyone visible in the room.

"Who said that?" Lex demanded. As every Magma looked round, Clark's gun moved away from Jonathan. Deciding not to press their luck by making a grab for it, Jonathan and Martha turned to flee.

They got about four feet away before Lex pulled out his own gun. "Not so fast."

"You aren't getting away with this." Martha said as she and Jonathan turned back to face them.

"You think not, mother?" Lex asked.

"Don't call me 'mother'." Martha growled. "Because you are no longer my sons!"

"Yes, that's it." The voice commented dryly. "Try to calm down the crazy people."

Clark whirled, his eyes resting on one of his fathers more... eccentric possessions, a Mexican outfit complete with the traditional oversized hat. Jonathan Kent had acquired a shop window dummy from somewhere and had arranged everything to give the impression of a Mexican sleeping during siesta. Martha had been born in Mexico and the dummy had amused her greatly. Clark had always thought it boring.

Only now the dummy was beginning to look a LOT more human.

"Cute." Clark snarled, aiming his gun and firing. The bullet impacted... into the wall a few inches from the target. Clark fired again, with the same result.

"I know you're not that bad a shot." Lex commented, opening fire with his own gun. With sharper eyes, he could almost see the bullets as they _changed course_, none reaching the figure. "They're being deflected somehow?"

Clark bit back a retort, recognising the thoughtful tone in his brothers voice. Then they froze as the figures hat turned, as if looking at Lex. Then, slowly as the grave, the figure rose to it's feet, a black gloved hand holding it's hat in place, continuing to conceal the face.

"I'll get it!" Napalm Ned declared. Clark, Lex and the other grunts drew back as Ned stepped forward, pointing the flamethrower and letting fly with a stream of flame which consumed the figure, scorching the walls, floor and ceiling.

The sprinkler and alarm systems failed to go off. Lex was expecting this because he'd done ten minutes work an hour or so ago ensuring that this would be the case. He let the flames continue for about ten seconds, then ordered "Stop!", getting slightly disturbed by what he _couldn't_ smell. Namely, extremely scorched flesh.

Several of the grunts coughed from the thick smoke. "Did we get him?" one asked.

"Don't jinx it!" Another snapped, as if the other grunts very words could alter reality.

"Let's leave Jynx out of this." A third piped up, causing all the grunts to glare in his general direction. "Sorry."

A breeze picked up, inexplicably, beginning to waft the smoke out of the room. Lex frowned. _Or perhaps not inexplicable_...

As the smoke cleared, two things were apparent. One, that the elder Kents had gotten away in the confusion.

Two, the figure was utterly unharmed, a small patch on unburned carpet around him, the eye in the smouldering remnants of the previous firestorm. As one group, the grunts recoiled. "How in God's name can you still be alive?" Napalm Ned asked in horror.

"God had nothing to do with it." The figure replied dryly. There was a sudden stench as a dozen or so grown men lost control of their bowels in unison.

Only the two brothers were unfazed, Lex because he was very smart and Clark because he knew how to read his brother's expressions. "Who are you?" Clark growled.

The figure grinned and with a flourish, tossed the hat away; it sailed across and hit the other wall, bouncing off and landing on the floor. Some of those present, by reflex, watched it do this before automatically switching their gaze back to the figure.

And only once he had their full attention did the figure raise his face, his eyes meeting their gaze, as they looked upon the face of a human boy. A face some of the grunts recognised even before he spoke.

"Ole... Sanjou!"

At which point, they got _really_ scared.

---------

Josh: *reenters picture* Now, for a bit more information. This season, the Season 2 Finale will still be the outtake special. But, unlike last season, this season, it's all about you. So, if you see an outtake opportunity, feel free to write in and tell me. It could be on the review board, or in an e-mail. Either way it does get to me, the best ideas will be used in that finale, and all contributors will be credited. General reviews are also appreciated, but not necessary. Well, until next week! *leaves stage*

Next Time: A battle erupts in the mansion's gardens, but this is only a preview of the real disaster to come...

Digicross Advanced 32: "From Eden to Armageddon."


	2. RoD 2: Crossroads of Hoenn Part 4

"So far, you've touched on every one of your friends except for one; Trey Miller."

Josh nodded and looked around. "I'm still not sure exactly what he was doing for most of the time. Sure there was the trial; but that doesn't explain what was going on when the rest of us were away."

"In other words, he could have been the cause to begin with."

"He could, yes," Josh allowed, "But I think I can honestly say that Trey wouldn't do that. Everything he did, every move that he made, when it involved us, was direct and personal. He would tell us he was doing something, and give us some half-lie about getting us trained up."

He paused for a second, "Actually, Trey never did explain why he was doing what he did."

The young officer nodded. "Would you be so kind as to clarify what you're saying?"

Josh sipped his coffee while he gathered his thoughts. He said, "Trey's motives, his ideas, and his plans were his own; unknown to anyone save his partner, Dakarimon. It is my honest opinion that Trey, and Dakarimon, can be considered, at best, a wild card."

"And at worst?"

Josh's face showed true fear. "At worst, I don't know if anything could stop him."

----------

A FireOne Production

Story by: Trey Miller

Teleplay by: Josh Johannesen and Alan Wilkinson

Digicross: Advanced, Chapter 32

or Rise of Darkness, Chapter 2

Crossroads of Hoenn, Part 4

"The First and Probably Last GekiRin Rebellion."

----------

_"How in God's name can you still be alive?" Napalm Ned asked in horror._

_"God had nothing to do with it." The figure replied dryly. There was a sudden stench as a dozen or so grown adults lost control of their bowels in unison._

_Only the two brothers were unfazed, Lex because he was very smart and Clark because he knew how to read his brother's expressions. "Who are you?" Clark growled._

_The figure grinned and with a flourish, tossed the hat away; it sailed across and hit the other wall, bouncing off and landing on the floor. Some of those present, by reflex, watched it do this before automatically switching their gaze back to the figure._

_And only once he had their full attention did the figure raise his face, his eyes meeting their gaze, as they looked upon the face of a human boy. A face some of the grunts recognized even before he spoke._

_"Olé... Sanjou!"_

_At which point, they got __**really**__ scared._

---

--Two hours earlier.

"So this is your place?" Alan asked, as he and Mandy entered a modest flat on the tenth floor of a building on the south side of Mauville.

"More or less. I share with a girlfriend of mine, but she's out of town." Mandy saw Alan's expression and chuckled. "No, not that kind of girlfriend!"

"Ah, right." Alan blushed; he was glad Mandy couldn't see the mental images running through his head. He glanced round. "Nice place."

"Thanks." Mandy grimaced. "I wish I'd known I'd be bringing company, I could have cleaned up around here."

"It looks _fine_." Alan replied, exasperated. He snorted. "Women. Everything has to be spotless or it's the end of the world."

Mandy laughed. "You get invited to many women's houses?" she teased.

"Just the one: my mother, if you can call being born an invitation." Alan sighed. "Sometimes, I could have sworn that woman was part Pokémon."

"'Keen Eye' ability?" Mandy suggested.

"And how. And if anything was even slightly out of place, it was a 'disgrace'. Anything." Alan sighed again. "Eventually, it just got easier to live down to my expectations than to live up to hers."

Mandy smirked sadly. "Well, for your information, my room back home was a pig-sty. It wasn't until I moved in here that I started to tidy up on a regular basis."

"I take it your room-mate is a bit of a neat freak, then?"

"Just a bit. Good thing too; we balance each other out nicely." Mandy thought for a moment. "Why don't you take the shower first?"

"Thanks." Alan paused for a moment, lost in thoughts of his own.

"You ok?" Mandy asked.

"Just worried about the Pokémon. Things seem to be accelerating and I wouldn't put it past Magma to attack the Pokémon Centre to get to them." he frowned. "Or here."

"Don't worry. With my Scyther and Scizor there, the Pokémon Centre will be fine." Mandy reminded him. "And I've still got plenty of firepower here."

----

-- Police HQ

At the window of the Chief's office, a Chatot listened in.

"The rumors about that kid might be true." Jonathan Kent was saying. "By the sound of things, he and his Pokémon managed to keep my men busy until Mandy woke up." The Chatot smirked at that. "And to make matters worse..."

"I heard." the voice replied, faint but still audible to the bird's ears. "A Pokémon Ranger. Christ."

"So what do we do now?" The Chief asked.

"We need to meet." The voice replied.

As the two voices continued, the Chatot listened committing every word and tone to memory. Mandy would want to hear this.

----

-- Mandy's house.

Alan stirred. Looking around, he realized he'd fallen asleep on the couch. With him in the Room were Vaporeon and two of Mandy's other Pokémon, a Spinarak and a Koffing. "Mandy?" he called.

"In here!" Mandy called back from. "I'll out in a minute!"

Five minutes later, Alan stirred again. "Ah, hell." he cursed.

Mandy giggled. "Sorry, I didn't want to wake you." She'd been struck by how cute he'd looked, but decided against saying so.

Sitting up, Alan looked at her, and nearly jumped out of his skin. "Mandy," he inquired sardonically, "have you done something to your hair?"

Mandy blushed. "Actually, this is my natural hair color." she said, fingering her now blonde curls. "I usually wear a wig, but those things itch _so_ much that it's nice to take it off once in a while."

"I can imagine." Alan winced. His scalp itched just thinking about it. "But why wear it at all?"

"Image recognition." Mandy replied with a shrug. "The Officer Jenny name and look is known and respected throughout Japan. As a member of the Jenny family, it's my duty to uphold the honor and tradition of... what?" she asked, noticing his expression.

"You obviously don't go on the Net enough." Alan began. He glanced at his backpack, but made no move to retrieve the laptop he knew to be inside it. "I was thinking about Brock one day and decided to look up some Jenny fansites for kicks."

"What kind of kicks?" Mandy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not that kind," Alan chuckled, "though there's plenty of that if you know where to look. But about an hour's searching through forums via Google showed me that Officer Jenny's are reviled and ridiculed as much as they're revered. I saw at least three sites which suggested you guys hadn't been born, you'd been bred in a factory somewhere."

"That's ridiculous." Mandy snorted. "Of course we were born."

"You may have trouble convincing people of that." Alan replied. "Too many clones, too many officers, too many Growlithes and Arcanines that are trained so badly, they get beaten up by a Ratatta with a limp. And _no boys at all_?"

There was a long pause, and then Alan subsided. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you like that."

There was another long pause before Mandy asked a question.

"Can I show you something?"

----

--The Kent Mansion, now.

When the figure revealed himself, several of the Magma's present backed up, terrified. But then they became aware of a slow, sardonic clapping.

"Bravo," Lex drawled, "That was quite an entrance."

"Thank you." Alan grinned. "We try."

"'We' indeed." Lex noted.

"The bird is here." Clark realized.

: Well done: Kendrix said, relaxing the perception field that prevented the Magma's from seeing her. From their perspective, she shimmered into view like a goddess.

"I'm rather glad I got to meet you, boy." Clark said. "You have something that belongs to us."

"Yeah, whatever." Alan drawled, guessing they were referring to Peter but not caring. He glanced curiously at one of the Magma's. "I remember you. You were at the Game Corner. Weren't you an Aqua?"

Lex chuckled. "My dear boy, if you were listening in as long as I think you were, I'm surprised you haven't already figured it out." He pulled off his clothes in one motion, revealing an Aqua uniform underneath. Some of the Magma's present did the same, revealing Aqua uniforms of their own. Clark finished up with a quick change of his own, but revealing a Magma outfit.

"Ah." Alan smiled. "So your father was right."

"Indeed." Lex nodded. "Aqua and Magma are much more profitable while both are operational. Of course, you always get a few who aren't as fanatical as the rest or are just in it for the money."

"So you two collected them." Alan nodded.

"Quite." Lex confirmed "As much as I'd like to take credit, it's not exactly a new idea. Weapons Merchants have been playing two sides against each other since pointy sticks were invented, selling weapons to both sides of a conflict. But I went bigger. By collecting men from both Aqua and Magma, including my own brother, I was able to give either side whatever it needed to keep the other in check."

"Or more precisely," Alan realized, "You handled the Aqua side of things while your brother deals with the Magma's."

"It was either that or kill each other." Clark noted dryly.

"Quite." Lex agreed. "Working together, we ensure that neither side is destroyed. And that's more profitable for everyone."

"Always comes down to money." Alan chuckled.

"Yes. But now you and your friends are causing a lot of trouble." Lex said. "And we can't have that now, can we?"

"Well, if you'd left well enough alone, none of this would have happened." Alan replied. "Kyle and the others could have been on their way to Lavaridge by now without encountering Aqua or Magma. But because Kyle and James were framed, we were pulled into events. Whose bright idea was it to frame a Digidestined anyway?" Lex's face twitched and Alan cackled. "It was you, wasn't it? Boy, you really meddled with the wrong meddling kids this time."

"I admit we underestimated your persistence," Lex growled, "but from what I've been able to learn, you Digidestined, including the Kyle boy, are stuck without your Digimon."

_Now who told him that?_ Alan thought, allowing himself to raise an eyebrow. "You underestimate more than our persistence. We may not have our Digimon," he gestured at Kendrix, "but we do have our Pokémon. The original Digidestined had to make to with a single monster each. As Pokémon trainers, we have up to six each. And believe me, that's plenty of fire-power."

"Enough talking!" Napalm Ned. "It's just one boy..."

"No..." Clark growled. "There's someone else here."

"I thought I could smell Rinki." Mandy commented, causing everyone else there to blink, even Alan and Kendrix. They'd known full well she was there, but even the Psychic-type hadn't been able to sense her presence. "What _have_ you been doing?"

Lex blinked as he looked at the blonde in front of him. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"GekiJyu Chameleon-Ken. Amanda Jenny-Wiles." Mandy replied, managing not to smile wistfully. It had been a long time since she'd last used her old title...

----

--Earlier...

Alan followed Mandy into her bedroom, mentally squashing several thoughts in the process. The random underwear scattered about the floor did nothing to help. "So... when was your roommate last in here?"

"Oh, she never comes in here." Mandy grinned. "Actually, she's been away the last couple of weeks." She wandered over to her closet (_Shut up_ Alan told himself), reached under the floorboards and produced a large flat box.

"What's that?" Alan asked.

"Something from my past." Mandy said. She opened the box to reveal a grey outfit that Alan slowly realized was... "A Martial Arts outfit? A... gi, I think it's called."

"That's right." Mandy said. "Have you heard of Jyuken?"

"Yes." Alan said. "It's a Ki-based martial arts discipline taught by a rather large cat."

"You know Master Shafu?" Mandy asked, surprised.

"We've met." Alan confirmed. "He showed up in Pallet Town once. It was shortly after the Indigo Plateau Tournament. I was taking a few months out to train everybody while I figured out what to do next and he showed up looking for new Jyuken students."

"Did you try out?" Mandy asked.

Alan nodded. "I did. Didn't quite work out, though."

"Why not?"

"Well, the human body can only contain so much energy, much less than a Digimon or a Pokémon can; too much and it explodes, melts or otherwise fails in _very _spectacular fashion. That becomes even worse when trying to run two _very_ different energies at the same time."

"I... I see." Mandy mused. "Jyuken uses Geki and being a Digidestined uses... something else."

"Digital Energy." Alan said. "And trying to use the two together is like trying to use diesel in a petrol engine. It doesn't help that Jyuken is an internal power and Digital Energy is external. Digital Energy isn't generated like Jyuken; it's absorbed by a Digidestined from energy released into this world by the Digital Gates. The physiology for one is completely different than the other."

"And because you were already a Digidestined, you could have never been a Jyuken student?"

"Basically." He shrugged. "Anyway, that's all past now. And Tommy can make much more use out of Digital Energy than I could Geki, so it's all good." He frowned. "That said, there isn't any Digital Energy in Hoenn; all of the Gates are shut."

"How come?" Mandy asked.

"That's what we're hoping to find out." Alan said. "Anyway, how'd you meet the cat?"

Mandy winced. "Well, back in the day I was kinda a bad kid."

"How bad?" Alan asked warily, sensing dangerous ground.

"Biker chick by day, prostitute by night." Mandy sighed. "Saddest part is I didn't even need the money."

"I'm not even going to ask." Alan commented, mentally squashing several more questions. "So what happened?"

"Well..." Mandy began. "You know Miki?"

"I've heard of her. Shafu's right hand."

"Well, my gang ran into her old gang, chaos broke out and she showed up, apparently having intended to check up on her people to make sure they kept out of trouble..."

"...which they weren't..." Alan noted.

"...and she stopped the whole fight cold."

"I can imagine. Shafu said she was about the only one who could keep up with him in a fight."

"That's her. She used to lead that gang with an iron fist and she can still be pretty scary. She's married now, so I hear." Mandy smiled. "Anyway, long story short, she got me into GekiJyuken, helped me clean up my act. Said I had the same energies as an old friend of hers, Gou."

"I've been meaning to ask about that. Your energy doesn't feel the same way Shafu's energy felt."

"You can sense that?" Mandy asked.

"A little. I _do_ have a little Geki, it's just a really bad idea to try and develop it. Pity, I think I'd have liked being a Jyuken student."

"Really?" Mandy asked. "Which style would you have been?"

"Elephant-ken, apparently. Not sure that fits, though." Alan mused. "While green has always been my color, Elephant-ken's weapon is the mace and I've always been more of a sword person." He glanced at her. "But we were talking about you. What's up with your Geki?"

"Well, it's a variant called Shigeki." Mandy began. Before she could continue further, there was a tapping at the window. Chatot had returned.

----

"You're Jyuken users?" Clark asked, surprised.

"Well, she is." Alan said. "I found another calling." He regarded the crooks. "So, do you guys want to do this the hard way or the harder way? Personally, I'm hoping you'll choose the harder way."

"Quit mocking us!" Clark stepped forward, but Lex stopped him.

"We're leaving, now." he ordered. Clark looked like he wanted to argue, but then they heard a commotion from elsewhere.

"Oh, shit." One of the Magma's cursed, "Someone found the secret entrance."

Clark made up his mind. "Out through the gardens!" As one, the crooks turned and fled... just as Ryo and Casey ran in through another door.

"Where'd you guys come from?" Alan asked.

Ryo grabbed Casey before she could chase after the crooks. "We found a Magma Base hidden under an anime store." He gazed at Mandy. "What's with the new look?"

"Just trying something different." Mandy smiled.

"You look _incredible_." Casey breathed.

Quickly, Ryo and Casey filled the other two in on their adventures. In turn, Mandy and Alan relayed the events at the cafe and what Chatot had told them...

---

As the collected Magma's and Aqua's fled, Clark glanced back, and then stopped.

"What is it?" Lex asked.

"If RinJyuken taught me one thing, it's never to let a GekiJyuken live." Clark turned and began to walk back to the mansion.

Lex's eyes widened. "You're not seriously going back?"

"I have to." Clark replied.

"No!" Lex shouted. "You could get captured, or worse."

Clark stopped, sighing. "This is not your fight brother, but it is one I cannot avoid." He glanced back as Lex approached. "Go. Hook up with whoever framed those other two Destined. Maybe at least you can help get rid of those." He began to walk away. "Magma's, fall in." They did, without hesitation.

Lex watched them go. "Come on," he said finally, "we have our own mission..."

----

--Earlier.

--Mauville Pokémon Centre.

"Everything okay?" Mandy asked, now back in her Officer Jenny appearance. After listening to what Chatot had to tell them, she and Alan had returned to the Pokémon Centre to collect their Pokémon.

"We haven't had any trouble." Nurse Joy assured her. "Well, not much." She glanced over at two little boys who had had the misfortune of trying to cause mischief with a Scyther and a Scizor on guard. One of the boys waved nervously. Nurse Joy blinked at a sudden memory, and then looked back at Mandy. "Oh, that's right, you had a parcel."

"She did?" Alan asked, in the nervous tone of someone who knew what explosives are.

Nurse Joy left for a moment, coming back with a large package. "Here you go." Mandy took it and glanced at the label. His eyes widened.

"What's the matter?" Alan asked. He glanced at the label, but it meant nothing to him.

"It's from Neko-sensei."

"Shafu?" Alan asked as they moved to a nearby table. Mandy opened the parcel, to reveal... clothes. A purple jacket, a grey undershirt and a black skirt.

"What is it?" Alan asked. It clearly meant something to Mandy, as she looked stunned.

"It's a Jyuken uniform." Mandy breathed. "But this is for advanced students. I gave up the art."

"To become a Jenny." Alan said, unable to hide the slight distaste in his voice.

"Yes. Neko-sensei said he understood, but I could tell he was disappointed." Mandy said. "He said that if I was ever ready to choose my own path, they'd be happy to have me back."

"That sounds a little presumptuous." Alan noted.

"It was true, though." Mandy said. "I loved Jyuken and I'd go back to it in a heartbeat If I could."

"What's stopping you?" Alan asked.

"Would you have me stop being a Jenny?" Mandy asked.

"I'd have you burn that damn wig." Alan retorted. "You shouldn't have to hide who you are just for the sake of a brand name. And surely you can be a cop and study Jyuken at the same time."

"It's not quite that simple." Mandy said. "In order to get really good, I'd have to leave Mauville and train elsewhere." Though she was clearly tempted. _Maybe I could work something out for my next vacation..._

Alan's eyes fell upon the last occupant of the parcel, a small box. "I wonder what this is." he commented, picking it up. Underneath as a small piece of paper, which Mandy picked up and folded open. "When you've made up your mind, open this." she read, frowning.

"I guess he means this." Alan said. "May I?" Mandy nodded, and Alan opened the box. He stared at the contents, and then closed it. "Wow."

"What is it?"

"Another path." Alan replied softly, handing it over. "If you're willing to travel it."

Mandy was silent for a moment, then reached up and pulled the wig from her head. Alan smiled slightly, realizing just what he was witnessing.

Mandy opened the box.

----

"I guess now we know where the other tunnel leads." Ryo mused.

"Straight to the Aqua base." Casey nodded.

"I'll call HQ and get them to bring some officers here." Mandy suggested. "They can follow the tunnel..."

"...and get blown up?" the other three chorused. Mandy winced, nodding.

"Besides, even if they did get there in one piece, the Aqua's won't be there anymore." Alan said. "If they have any sense, they're clearing out their base as soon as they get back to it."

: Alan: They looked up at Kendrix. : The Magma's are returning. And they're here for battle:

"Well, if it's a battle they want." Casey grinned.

"It's a battle they'll get." Alan agreed.

---

The Magma's stood in the garden, looking towards. "Digidestined!" Clark roared. "We know you're in there!"

"Wait, there they are!" Napalm Ned pointed to the roof as the four humans and Kendrix emerged. Kendrix flew down to ground level as the others released their Pokémon to join her, Alan releasing Tommy, Peter, Jyou, and Leo, Casey releasing Meganium, Electrike and Aquaris, Ryo releasing Charmeleon and Sableye and Mandy releasing Scyther, Scizor, Vaporeon and Koffing. In return, the Magma's released Mightyena, more Houndoom and various other Fire Pokémon.

Alan looked over at Mandy. "Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life."

Ryo and Casey exchanged confused looks. "I think we missed something."

"Well?" Ned called up. "Are you coming down to play?"

Mandy brought up her left arm, a small device shimmering into visibility on her wrist... a small device which not so long ago had occupied a small box.

"What is that?" Ryo asked.

But Casey recognized the device. "You are _kidding_ me."

Mandy flicked open the device. "Echo, Howl of the Wild!"

If they hadn't already done so, the Magma's would have soiled themselves. Even Clark went pale. "It can't be." he muttered.

**"Beast On!"**

One quick transformation later and Mandy's new armor was revealed, causing the jaws of everyone else present to drop. Her suit was violet, with thin black lines all over it to give the impression of scales. Her helmet, a noticeably darker shade of purple, was in the shape Of the Chameleon and Alan found himself amused by the way the tongue hung over the visor. "That's so much cooler than on TV." he remarked.

"Uh-huh!" Casey agreed, nodding vigorously.

"You guys sure you want to do this?" Ryo called out to the Magma's.

"Attack!" Clark commanded and the Magma Pokémon surged forward, several Charizard taking to the skies.

"That'll be a yes, then." Alan commented.

"So what do we call you in this form?" Casey asked.

Mandy thought about this for a second. "GekiViolet will do." she decided.

Alan looked down at the Pokémon. "Tommy! Guys!" He yelled down "Plow us a road!"

"You got it!" Tommy called back. "Everyone, let's go!" The Pokémon surged towards their Magma counterparts; Kendrix, Scyther and Scizor climbed to greet the Charizard's.

Casting an eye, Ryo estimated they were outnumbered by... rather a lot; The Magma's _had_ to have been carrying more Pokéballs than were legal to produce so many Pokémon, even between them. _Ah well_ he thought, _Nothing ventured..._ "Let's go!" he called, as the three HoennDestined jumped down. GekiViolet chose to jump high, using her new powers to propel her over the heads of the Pokémon as good Pokémon and Magma clashed.

This proved to be a mistake, two of the Charizard's intercepting her in mid-air and smashing her into the ground, pinning. With a growl, she ignited her elbows, an oddity which startled the Charizard's enough to release her. Quickly, GekiViolet flipped to her feet and leapt backwards, out of claw range. The two Charizard's responded to this by attacking with twin Flamethrowers. GekiViolet barely had enough time to touch the ground before she jumped forward again, the Flamethrower attacks passing by underneath her as she flipped and kicked both Charizard's in the sides of their heads.

Meanwhile, the various Pokémon battles spread out. Seeing Meganium dodge Fire attacks, Alan was glad he hadn't let Cody out. Thankfully, the larger Grass-type seemed to holding her own. Leo, meanwhile, was having a whale of a time; what he couldn't dodge he simply shrugged off with his Flash Fire. Jyou and Aquaris simply spammed Water Gun, Jyou using Strength to KO a Mightyena which tried to sneak up on him. Electrike and Peter used their speed for hit and run attacks, zapping every enemy they could see with Thundershocks, since they were quicker to charge than Thunderbolts. Sableye shifted in-and out of existence, relying on its Ghost traits to help it evade attacks as it struck with Fury Swipes and the occasional Night Shade.

Tommy, meanwhile, could be heard muttering "I really, really miss digivolving." over and over as Slashed and brawled with his opponents. He considered trying to get Alan to use... He sighed and decided against it. Best save _them_ for when they were really needed. _Not that I'm likely to get the chance to ask now anyway._

Up in the sky, it was beginning to be apparent that none of the Charizards knew Agility. Scyther and Scizor did; a fact they were quickly putting to their advantage. Kendrix, meanwhile, used her Psychic abilities to redirect her opponents' attacks into each other, and then hit them with Psybeams; she didn't risk trying Drill Peck, as the fire dragons would have savaged her up close.

Meanwhile Alan, Casey and Ryo tried to break through to the Magma's, Alan finding himself confronted by a Blaziken. "Get out of my way." he growled, punching it in the groin and carrying on as it keeled over. Meanwhile, Casey had pulled out her baseball bat and used it to knock out three Mightyena that tried to get in her way.

Unlike his more violent friends, Ryo didn't even try to battle the Pokémon, simply concentrating on getting past. This effort was briefly impeded by two Typhlosion, only for said Typhlosion to get knocked aside as Leo cannoned into them with Extreme Speed.

"Thanks, Leo." Ryo called. Leo roared back and Ryo wondered why he hadn't heard a verbal response. Looking skyward quickly gave him his answer: The Charizard's had overwhelmed Kendrix, one of them having gotten in a lucky hit with a Fire Blast. The now-unconscious Fearow dropped out of the sky. A red beam shot out from the ground and intercepted her; Alan had felt Kendrix's mental scream as she was knocked out and quickly recalled her to her Pokéball.

The distraction from this allowed a Houndoom to pounce on him, its teeth sinking into his arm. Yelping in pain, Alan growled and swung his arm towards the ground, smashing the Houndoom's head against the soil until it let go. It staggered back, dazed, allowing Alan to shift position and kick it in the head. It sailed back and collapsed. Alan gave the unconscious body an apologetic look, and carried on.

Smacking a Magmar in the face, Casey suppressed a wince. She had her own Magmar back at Professor Elm's Laboratory and hurting one was something she did with very great regret. She looked around just in time to see a purple figure drop out of the sky, spin kicking another Magmar on the head.

"Someone's been watching Code Geass." Casey remarked.

"What do you mean?" GekiViolet asked.

"You just Spinzaku'd that Magmar."

Behind her helmet, Mandy blushed. "Ok, yeah. You don't think there's a real Code Geass universe out there, do you?"

A Mightyena tried to pounce on Casey, but she smacked it away casually. "It's not impossible." She gave the helmet a mischievous look. "So there could easily be a real Suzaku out there somewhere."

"I hope there is, I'd love to meet him." Geki Violet snickered. "Actually, there are a lot of things I'd like to do to him." Casey positively cackled at this and Mandy regarded the other girl. "What about you?"

"Just between us girls?"

"Sure."

As Casey considered this, the Blaziken that had encountered Alan previously, now very sore somewhere no male wants to be sore, lunged at Geki Violet. Catching this, she jumped to meet him, igniting her elbow and driving it into the side of the fire-chicken's head, then spun counter-clockwise, using the spin as momentum for a right uppercut. She followed that up by continuing the spin, side-kicking the Blaziken in his chest. He collapsed to the ground. GekiViolet back-flipped away from him and looked back at Casey.

Casey met GekiViolet's gaze and shrugged. "Lelouch or Kallen. I haven't decided which."

This wasn't quite the response Mandy had expected. Before she had a chance to comment, Blaziken got up again. He was not a happy chicken.

---

By some miracle of plot convenience, Alan and Ryo broke through the ranks at the same time, startling the Magma's.

That Alan had gotten through did not surprise Clark in the slightest. And naturally he'd heard of the famous Ryo Akiyama. "You two are more than persistent." he growled. "You are getting to be an annoyance!"

"Well, that's what happens when you mess with our friend!" Ryo shot back.

Alan couldn't help feeling faintly annoyed on James' behalf, but directed his glare at the Magma's. "In the Name of the Moon, we will right wrongs and triumph over evil." he declared. "And that means you!" he added, pointing at Clark.

This caused silence for a moment. "I'm not with him." Ryo commented, sweat-dropped.

"No way is that kid all there." one of the Magmas commented.

"Everyone's a critic." Alan sighed, grabbing for his last Pokéball. "Cody, go!"

"I choose you, Swinub!" Ryo called, throwing his own reserve. No sooner had the two Pokémon appeared than they opened fire, Cody with Bullet Seed and Swinub with Ice Beam, the attacks serving to scatter the Magma's. Clark opened his mouth to say "Attack", but realized he didn't have too... a few of his men were already closing on the two boys. The sound of baseball bat on flesh heralded the arrival of Casey as HoennDestined and Magma grunts began to fight.

It occurred to Clark as he watched the ensuing chaos that the three teens had almost formed their own Triangle-with-a-capital-T.

Alan was clearly Body. Though he showed some capability for dodging, the main thing he seemed to bring to the fight was an ability to hit things _very_ hard. Clark found himself wondering how the boy was doing it. It didn't seem to be raw strength, but it didn't seem to be Geki. On the _other_ hand, he'd clearly picked up some GekiJyuken from somewhere, as Clark could see elements of Tiger-style in his movements, even a bit of... Elephant? Whatever the reason, whatever strange power was at work, the fact was that somehow Alan was hitting the Magma grunts with all the force of a speeding truck. Putting this conundrum aside for the moment, the Magma boss regarded the other two.

Casey, Clark decided after some thought, was probably Heart. She'd certainly have made a good Cheetah, the speed of her movements impressing Clark as she struck rapid blows with her baseball bat... and the bat itself likely wasn't helping.

That left Ryo to be Technique and it certainly suited him, his movements a lot more formalized, greatly more controlled than the other two. Ryo seemed to have been formally trained in one of the more conventional martial arts styles that Clark had never bothered to pay attention to. Now he was starting to wish he had.

But it was clear Ryo simply didn't _need_ to be as ferocious as either Alan or Casey; if either of those two new how to fight cleanly, they certainly weren't bothering to. Ryo, however, struck with precision, using only what force he needed. Yes, definitely Technique.

"Clark Kent, you are under arrest." a voice spoke from behind him.

"Ah, Miss Jenny-Wiles." Clark realized. "How _did_ you get behind me?"

"It's what I do." GekiViolet shimmered into view behind Clark as he turned to face her.

Clark smirked and settled into fighting stance. "As I believe the saying goes: Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough."

"As you wish." GekiViolet replied. The next moment, she disappeared, shifting into invisibility before leaping high into the air. At the peak of her jump she angled herself, aiming a kick at Clark's chest.

Being invisible, it came as a bit of a shock to Mandy when Clark grabbed her ankle, snatching her out of the air. He spun and threw GekiViolet away, materializing as she collapsed ungracefully. As GekiViolet staggered to her feet, Clark bent his head and charged, his head smashing into her belly. As GekiViolet temporarily lost the ability to breathe, Clark reared up, throwing her over his head in a fashion that would have been downright implausible in a more realistic fight.

This time, GekiViolet managed to land in a way that allowed her to roll to her feet, tasting bile at the back of her throat. As she landed, Clark turned to face her, and then charged straight at her, delivering four powerful punches. The first two impacted into Mandy's breasts, managing to hit her in both nipples, causing her chest to explode in agony. The third was an uppercut into her belly, removing her ability to breathe again and aggravating her already protesting stomach. The fourth, after a pause, smashed straight into her face, hard enough to distort the helmet and knock GekiViolet clean off her feet. She hit the ground like a rag-doll and dehenshined.

Before Clark could attack further, a large object smacked him in the back of the head. Clark whirled around. He just had enough time to realize in surprise it was a person before a second one smacked him in the chest, knocking him over; Alan and Ryo had had the same idea. Ryo's Sableye looked somewhat smug, presumably having taken at least one of thugs. As he wondered who had thrown a Magma on Alan's behalf, he became aware of an energy, emanating from somewhere on the boy's person. _No. Couldn't be._

Meanwhile, Casey made her way to Mandy as the woman managed to get up onto her hands and knees, clearly struggling to breathe.

"Are you alright?" Casey asked as she knelt in front of her. It sounded stupid even as she heard herself say it, but what else were you supposed to ask?

Mandy turned to look at Casey. A moment passed... and them Mandy vomited with great force, puking up the contents of her stomach all over Casey's shirt. Casey grimaced automatically, but didn't respond, only taking hold of Mandy's hair, moving it out of the way as the officer continued to throw up, retching noisily.

Clark pushed the two Magma's off him. One of them, a female Magma, groaned audibly. Clark took a moment to look at the other one. It was Ned. Who was dead, his neck broken.

Ryo moved to attack but Alan grabbed him by the back of the neck. "What are you doing? We have to stop him."

"Well, duh." Alan said. Before Ryo could respond, Alan pointed at Clark. "Ryo, this isn't like the Magma's. That guy just _demolished_ a Sentai Hero. I don't care how long it's been since Mandy took a Jyuken lesson, that shouldn't be doable."

Ryo was already nodding. "I see what you mean. So what do _we_ do?"

"Buggered if I know." Alan put his hand in his pocket, taking hold of his D-Terminal and looking around for Tommy. _Guess we'll have to use them. _"Tommy, Digi..." Alan's voice trailed off as he finally spotted his partner, unconscious nearby. "Crap infinity."

"We'd better call everyone back." Ryo said. Of the good Pokémon, only Leo was still standing and the tiger-dog seemed too exhausted to do any more than that. Quickly, Alan and Ryo recalled their Pokémon. Third and fourth sets of red beams indicated that Casey and Mandy were doing the same.

It was Ryo who sensed it first. "Look out!" he called as Clark charged at them, he and Alan dodging either way. Clark hadn't expected this and it took him a few moments to stop, before reorienting himself and charging at Ryo. Thinking quickly, Ryo charged as well. Clark guessed Ryo's plan, but got the direction wrong, Ryo lunging left when Clark had guessed he'd go right. In mid-air, Ryo's foot lashed out, catching Clark in the back of the right knee. Clark lost his footing and fell over.

"Ryo!" Alan called in warning. Ryo looked over at his friend... and got out of the way very quickly. Clark got to his feet and saw Alan advancing on him... armed with Ned's flamethrower. Alan pulled the trigger, a twenty foot jet of flame shooting forward and engulfing the Magma.

Taking the long way round, Ryo made his way to Alan's side. "You're insane. Really."

A moment later, Casey and Mandy joined them. "Are you alright?" Alan asked Mandy, wincing at the horrible mess that was Casey's shirt.

"Yeah, just needed a few moments." Mandy said. "Wasn't expecting him to be able to hit that hard."

"Speaking of whom," Casey said, "I think he's cooked enough now."

"Actually, I rather doubt that." Alan said. The Flamethrower sputtered and died as it ran out of fuel. Muttering a curse that made Casey blush, Alan discarded it.

"Imbeciles!" Clark's voice rang out, the four horrified to see him standing there, apparently unconcerned by the fact that he was _on fire_. "Did you really think you could beat Magma with flame?" Then he screamed, a blast of black-and-purple smoke erupting from him, the force of the eruption sufficient to send the four flying back.

As the smoke died down somewhat, Alan caught sight of Clark's new form. The Magma had grown to nearly seven foot in height. His clothes were gone, the burning garments obliterated by the transformation, his upper body swelling with muscle, his skin now grey and leathery, his head absent of hair, his eyes changed to a blood red. A large black horn adorned his forehead. "What do you think, Digidestined?" Clark asked. "Face the true form of Usaika!"

"DoRinki." Mandy breathed in horror.

"I was afraid you were going to say that." Alan groaned, remembering what Shafu had told him all those months and years ago.

"What's that?" Ryo asked as the three of them sat up.

"DoRinki is basically evil super Ki." Mandy explained.

"Ah." Ryo said. "So how strong is he?"

"In our terms?" Alan asked. "Ultimate, easily."

"That's bad." Ryo noted.

"Explains what he did to you though." Alan told Mandy. "He's a full order of magnitude stronger than you are."

"Lovely." Mandy sighed.

It was about this point that the three realized they were now three. Looking round, they saw Casey, out-cold beside them.

"She must have knocked out when we landed." Ryo realized.

On hands and knees, Alan crawled over, putting his hand on Casey's hip as he looked down at her. It struck him for a moment just how fuckable Casey looked when she was unconscious. He squashed _that_ thought very firmly, feeling guilty for even thinking it.

"She looks like she's ok." Mandy said reassuringly as she got up, Ryo getting up and moving next to Alan.

"Can you look after her?" Alan asked Ryo, taking his Pokéballs from his belt and offering them to the other boy. "And these?"

"Of course." Ryo said, unable to suppress a shiver as he took them.

"You should stay here too." Mandy said. "It's too dangerous."

As he got up, Alan managed not to give her a withering look. "You're not bloody doing it alone." he replied grimy. "He's too strong for either of us."

"Guess so." Mandy raised her hand to her Gong-Changer and henshined into GekiViolet again.

"Are you weaklings ready to face me?" Usaika roared.

"Your opponents are the two of us!" GekiViolet confirmed.

"Splendid!" Usaika grinned.

"I really didn't want to die a virgin." Alan muttered under his breath. "So what exactly are you, anyway?" he asked Usaika out-loud.

"Kenma of the Land!" the Magma Leader introduced himself, "Rhino-ken Master Usaika! And now, I shall be your destroyer! All parts of you, right down to the bone, will be turned to dust."

"Rhino-ken." Alan mused quietly. "I thought as much."

"Remember earlier?" Mandy asked, at the same volume.

"Yeah." Alan replied, then fixed his gaze on Usaika. "Your move, oh small-penised one."

**"I DO NOT HAVE A..."** Clark caught himself. "Very well, whelp. Let's take this somewhere more comfortable."

With that, Usaika raised one hand to the air, sending a bolt of energy into the cloudless sky. A moment later, three bolts of lightning crashed down, striking GekiViolet, Alan and Usaika himself.

Then, with a shimmer, they vanished.

---

Alan and GekiViolet materialized into cold blackness. They shivered automatically. "Where are we?" GekiViolet asked.

"I think we're in the Shadow Realm." Alan said. "Kinda wish I'd brought my deck; maybe I could have sicced Slifer on Usaika". He considered this. "Well, maybe. I've never tried a summoning like that."

GekiViolet looked around for Usaika, but a more pressing question had occurred to her. "You're a duelist and you don't have your deck on you?"

"If I ended up here very often, I might". Alan replied. "As it is, I'm the only evil duelist I know, so my cards are in my backpack. Which is at your place."

As Mandy tried to figure out if the "evil duelist" thing was a joke or not, Usaika strode out of the darkness. "Well, weaklings," he sneered. "How to you like our surroundings?"

"Isn't this a bit cold for the likes of you?" Alan asked.

"I'm quite warm."

"Do you think bringing us here will scare us?" GekiViolet asked.

"Not at all." Usaika grinned. "I'm just saving some time."

"What do you...?" GekiViolet began to ask.

Then the moon appeared and Mandy realized where they were. "A graveyard?"

"The Cemetery." Alan corrected. "Where Duel Monsters go when they die." The Reaper Of The Cards floated into view and Alan waved at it. It took one look at him and fled.

"It's never done that before." Usaika looked puzzled.

"It recognized you." GekiViolet said to Alan, sounding equally puzzled.

Alan smile was feral. "I'll rephrase my earlier statement. I'm the only evil duelist I know _right now_. There was another, once."

"What happened to him?" Mandy asked.

The feral grin widened. "Like I said, once."

Usaika missed this exchange, still staring after the Reaper. _Strange_ he thought. "No matter." he growled. "Are you fools ready to die?"

Alan smiled, knowing full well what he had brought with him. And one of them would be _very_ at home here. "Let me say this to start over. We're pretty strong!" he declared.

"I'm not impressed, boy!" Usaika growled. "I'm stronger than either of you. Hell, I'm stronger than both of you!"

"I don't think so!" Mandy was also wondering what the Reaper knew that she and Usaika didn't, but something in the Alan's demeanor filled her with confidence. And there was certain knowledge being fed to her from her Gong-Changer that suggested a few other ideas. "You're going down, Usaika!"

"I don't think so!" Clark roared, charging straight for them.

(You might what to stick the Gekiranger theme on as you read this bit. -ed)

"Go!" GekiViolet and Alan chorused as they charged in turn. As they reached Clark, Geki Violet jumped, sailing over the Kenma's head. Alan, meanwhile, saw an opening and slid between Usaika's legs. Unfortunately, Clark had learned from the incident with Ryo earlier and managed to stop much more quickly, whirling around to face Alan, who found himself less than a foot from the Kenma...well within arm range. Grinning, Usaika ducked forward...

"FIRE SABRE!" Alan called. Usaika screamed as a foot-long blade of flame slashed across his chest, leaving a gaping wound which quickly scarred over as the flesh cauterized. Usaika gaped in horror as he saw the blade was emanating from Alan's left arm. It disappeared for a moment, only for it to reappear on the boy's right arm, Alan expanding the blade to three feet before taking another swing. Usaika fell back to get out of the way. A moment later, a foot connected with his face, courtesy of a flying kick from Geki Violet. Usaika sailed back and landed on his ass.

"You do have a few tricks." GekiViolet remarked, making a mental note to find out what the hell was going on later.

"A few." Alan replied, grinning.

As Usaika got up, he charged a ball of DoRinki and threw it at them. Quickly, they got out of the way, dodging in opposite directions, though Alan was still hit by the shockwave from the explosion and was knocked to the ground, only just avoiding smacking his head on a gravestone, the Fire Sabre dissipating. Bellowing in triumph, Usaika strode toward him.

"Chamele Whip!" Usaika turned at the sound of Mandy's voice, seeing a small purple Chameleon in her hand. Changing his mind, he charged for her, balling his fists ready to punch, the minor necessity to jump over a gravestone or two along the way ding nothing to slow his momentum. As Usaika neared, GekiViolet's new weapon produced a several meter long beam of energy from its mouth. Usaika had just enough time to realize it was an energy whip before GekiViolet used it to whip him across the face. This was enough to make Usaika lose his balance and fall, using an arm to stop himself from falling flat on his face.

"Nice." Alan remarked as he got up. "CRIMSON LIGHTNING!" A blood red whip emerged from his right arm. Before Usaika could do more than look shocked, Alan let the whip fly, wrapping it around Usaika's ankle and pulling the Kenma's leg out from under him. Usaika howled as he fell backwards.

Alan looked over at Geki Violet as she somersaulted over to join him. "Sometimes it's just too tempting." Alan mused, just before they both whipped Usaika in his very exposed genitals. Usaika's response to this was to scream bloody murder, rising from the ground in fury. A second strike from the whip's hit him in the eyes.

"How?" Usaika howled. "You cannot defeat my DoRinki!"

"Power is nothing if you can't apply it," GekiViolet replied, "and we're not going to give you that chance!"

"HAND OF FATE!" Alan called, firing a blast of holy energy. It struck Usaika, electing a scream as the holy energy burned his dark form.

"RIN RIN KEN!" GekiViolet sent a spinning blast of energy from her Gong-Changer, which struck home in turn. Usaika collapsed and exploded.

"Is it over?" Mandy asked, and then scowled. "Never mind, I can still sense him."

Usaika staggered out of the smoke left behind by the flame. His horn was missing and he seemed to have lost about a foot in height.

"You fools!" he growled. "You may have gotten lucky, but you haven't seen my full power."

"Oh no, you don't!" Alan growled, charging forward. He'd seen enough Sentai to guess the next bit and he wasn't going to let _that_ happen.

Usaika bent back his head, arms outstretched, charging his power. "JASHIN GOTEN - hu'rk." The sudden halt in his speech was because Alan had just punched him in the throat. This made very little sense to Usaika, until Alan pulled his fist away, revealing said fist covered by a six-inch Fire Sabre blade. Alan smirked, look around for GekiViolet... and then got out of the way very, very quickly.

"KAREN TOPPA!" From a height of several feet in the air, GekiViolet dropped towards Usaika, spinning her body as she flew _through_ Usaika. He collapsed and exploded once more.

As GekiViolet landed, she dehenshined, panting in exhaustion. Alan moved to join her.

"Impossible..." Clark staggered out of the fresh round of smoke. "Impossible!"

"Jyuken is the Fist of Justice!" Mandy declared

"The Righteous will always be Victorious!" Alan continued. He'd always liked that line.

"Gekiranger!"

"Digidestined!"

"WIN!"

Then they vanished.

"What... where did they go?" Clark wondered out loud

THE SPELL WHICH BROUGHT THEM HERE HAS BEEN TERMINATED. Clark looked round to see the Reaper, floating nearby. THUS THEY HAVE BEEN RETURNED.

"But why haven't I been returned?" Clark asked.

DO I EVEN HAVE TO SAY IT? The Reaper asked. It looked rather smug.

And indeed, it didn't. Clark's face paled as the horrible truth dawned.

NOW, the Reaper continued, WHILE WE WAIT FOR THAT OTHER FELLOW, WHO WILL TAKE YOU TO THE PLACE WHERE PEOPLE LIKE YOU GO, YOU CAN CLEAN UP THIS MESS....

----

Ryo and Casey had not been idle. While Alan and Mandy had been battling Usaika, Ryo and Casey had busied themselves tying up the Magma's and making sure the Magma Pokémon were returned to their Pokéballs. Alan found himself wondering where they'd got so much rope.

"So how'd you beat him?" Casey asked.

"Paper tiger." Alan explained. "All his power was in offence, so we just kept him off balance and shredded his defenses. I'm surprised he gave us so little trouble, actually. I'd expected a better fight actually."

"You expected to die." Ryo said softly.

Alan nodded. "As you can imagine, I ain't complaining."

"Me neither." Mandy said. "What do you think happened to Clark?"

"Shadow Game. He lost." Alan replied. This required further explanation.

-----

Before long, the police arrived to collect the Magma Grunts. Not, the HoennDestined were surprised to discover, the Mauville forces, but the Japan Terrorists Capture Bureau, plus various volunteers from all over Hoenn.

"What's going on?" Alan asked one of the Officer Jenny's that had showed up.

"Mauville's police force is now under investigation." she replied. "We want to make sure all traces of Magma and Aqua have been removed." At this point, she noticed Mandy. "You're out of uniform, Officer."

"But I'm not off-duty, Alice." Mandy said, opening her jacket to reveal her badge.

"Be that as it may," Alice said, "but you should be ashamed of being seen with such an un-Jenny like appearance."

"I think it suits her." Alan said, a dangerous edge to his voice.

"She's a freak." Alice snarled.

"That's quite enough." Two more Officer Jenny's approached, one wearing arm stripes which denoted her as a higher authority. The other grabbed Alice and pulled her away.

"Commander." Mandy said in greeting, looking somewhat guilty.

"Mandy." Commander Jenny (it's a rank, not a name -ed) greeted warmly. "I'm sorry about that. Some Jenny's are rather hard-line about the look." She regarded Mandy. "He's right, you know. You look good."

-About an hour later, Mauville Courthouse-

Trey Miller had been working all day, combing the files for any gaps in the case built against Kyle and James. Dakarimon had been doing the same, each hoping that the other would spot something they had missed. However, that had not happened by the time the Courthouse was set to close down for the day; a fact which was revealed to them when an officer came in to escort them out.

Trey sighed lightly as they exited the location. "It seems pretty airtight to me, Dakari."

Dakarimon shook his head and replied, "We both know it's built on a pack of lies. Now it's up to the others to prove that."

Trey thought about this, and then nodded. "That's a good point. Come, let's get back to the Pokémon Center and find out what they uncovered."

Dakarimon was more than happy to follow behind his partner, having been tired out from the day's work. Obviously, they had no idea that the police's own corruption was now under investigation and the trial might still be thrown out on false pretenses… then again, neither did the judges.

-Meanwhile, elsewhere on the streets of Mauville-

It had been an anti-climatic day in the life of Josh Johannesen, to say the least. Babysitting Jessie and Meowth was not his idea of excitement. Though, it wasn't to say it was entirely without incident.

At one point, he had to stop them from attempting to steal from a jewelry store in town, mostly due to Meowth's love for all things shiny.

At another, Josh had to use Blade's mysterious new power to keep the two Rockets from getting away, and trying to rob a grocery store; something about Trey not being there to help feed them, or some such nonsense.

By this stage of the day, Josh was just plain annoyed with his two charges.

"Don't you two ever grow up?"

Meowth replied, "Sorry, 'dere. It's just old habit 'a ours."

Josh sighed, exasperated. "You two are completely useless on your own, aren't you?"

Jessie became a bit angry at that statement. "How dare you call us useless? Those traps we keep coming up with, you kept falling for them, didn't you?"

Josh nodded lightly. "As true as that may be, when it comes to battling, it's not so hot."

Jessie grumbled lightly. Meowth then saw that it was getting late, as if the night sky wasn't an indication of that fact already. "We really oughta be gettin' back to da Pokémon Center."

Jessie thought for a moment, and then snickered. "Last one there's a rotten egg!" She ran off, and Meowth was not far behind. "Hey, wait for me!"

Josh sighed again, and shook his head in annoyance. "It's a wonder that Trey managed to tolerate them for so long…" He continued walking, glad to have some peace and quiet for once.

That peace and quiet would be cut rather short, however, when Josh walked past a rather innocuous looking tree. Suddenly, a chloroform-filled cloth covered his mouth as he was grabbed from behind. It would be long before he was knocked out cold.

Jessie and Meowth had been too far beyond Josh's position to hear anything wrong, and so they kept right on going.

The man with the cloth talked rather quietly into a microphone attached to an earpiece. "The primary target has been acquired."

Another voice spoke from the same earpiece. "Were you spotted by his two companions?"

The shadowy figure replied, "Negative. The two bumbling idiots continued without stopping."

If voices could have facial expressions, this one would have a definite smirk to it. "Excellent. Bring him back to base. We will understand why we weren't able to beat his Pokémon… and we'll also get what we really seek."

The man nodded, and slinked away quickly and quietly.

-On the other side of town…-

Alan, who was fairly tired after his encounter with Lex and Clark, was stumbling upon his own path back to the Pokémon Center for some much-needed and well-earned rest. However, that would not be happening either. Unbeknownst to him, a man was watching from the shadows, and had been given very specific instructions, should he see Alan instead of Clark come out.

As a result of these instructions, shortly before Alan reached the Pokémon Center himself, he was also chloroformed by a cloth and knocked unconscious soon after.

Unlike Josh, though, there weren't any instructions to contact a particular organization should capture occur. He was to be brought back via the secret tunnel in the Kent household, and that's just what happened.

-Inside the Pokémon Center, 20 minutes later-

Ryo, Casey, Trey, Dakarimon, Jessie and Meowth had all made it back there, and were digesting the events of the day.

Ryo and Casey had presented, quite proudly, the disk containing the files which Trey could use the following day to prove Kyle and James' innocence. Trey insisted that, for now, they should keep it, just in case something happened during the night.

Jessie pointed out not long after this, "Shouldn't we be worried that two of us aren't here right now?"

Trey responded by simply saying, "Do you blame Josh for wanting a bit of time off?" Dakarimon chuckled, while both Jessie and Meowth blushed a light red.

Ryo added, "And we all know that Alan can take care of himself in any event. So, let's get some sleep right now, and worry about finding them in the morning."

Trey agreed to this statement. "If they aren't back by morning, chances are something happened. But, there's no use worrying about something which might or might not have transpired."

Casey yawned lightly. "And besides that, it's been a long day, and we've got another one tomorrow."

Everyone could agree to this last bit, and so they decided to go to bed for now, and worry about the two of them in the morning.

-About 45 minutes later, Team Aqua Base-

A sudden chill ran up and down Josh's body, rattling him rather uncomfortably out of sleep. As it turned out, it was an ice-water bath which had woke him up, but, even as he opened his eyes, he couldn't see anything.

A voice came from somewhere beyond the darkness as Josh heard the noises of a crane or something of that ilk. "Ah, it's good to see you're finally awake."

Josh, who began to become less groggy, asked probably the dumbest question of the night. "Where am I, and who are you?"

The man smirked and responded, "Where you are right now is deep inside our hidden base, little boy." Josh was annoyed at the remark, but still couldn't find a way to get angry.

He then added, "And who I am is none of your business. Just suffice it to say that you're here for a special reason…" He snapped his fingers, and Josh felt the wind rushing upward until it abruptly stopped, and he felt intense pain coming from his legs, almost like they wanted to keep right on going downward.

The man grabbed Josh underneath the chin and said with a smirk, "Now, you're going to tell us what exactly you did to that Grovyle of yours. It's unlike anything anyone has ever seen before, and we want that secret."

This statement caused Josh to go into his mind a little bit and think. 'Grovyle… yeah, he does have a point.' As Josh began to remember the sequence which took place immediately prior to Blade's evolution, nothing really stood out; except, of course, the brand-new luster that seemed to be completely unique, especially since there wasn't any type change during the evolution process.

The man who still had a hold of Josh's face could see quite clearly that Josh was thinking, it was easy to read from the expression on the rest of his face.

But, he would be disappointed with the response that Josh gave a few moments later. "I have absolutely no idea what I did."

The man snarled. "Of course you do! No trainer in their right mind would do something to their Pokémon without having an idea what it did!"

Josh winced, but he would be in greater pain when he was dropped the rest of the way into the water, being completely submerged. It was pure torture, because Josh tried to flail about, but neither his arms, nor his hands were capable of movement from where they were. And even his legs were incapable of much movement, as every move was resisted by what felt like a very heavy weight.

After just a few seconds, though, he was hoisted back up in the air again. The man said, "Now, I have all night. We can keep going around in circles like this, or you can tell me—"

He would be interrupted by the door opening on the far side of the chamber. The man asked annoyingly, "How many times have I told you? Don't interrupt when I'm in the middle of an interrogation!"

A second voice, which sounded rather tired, replied, "Sir… I think you would want to know that… we captured Alan."

Josh mentally winced when he heard that, but the man was clearly taken aback, as a quick shuffling of feet took place as he turned around. A smirk played across his face. "It's a shame about my brother, but at the very least, I'll be able to get some revenge. Did you remove the device we talked about?"

The grunt nodded, "Yes, sir, Master Lex." Josh mentally noted the name for use later. "He had no Pokémon on him at all, which I found to be rather strange."

Lex nodded lightly, "It is a tad strange. But, I would assume that they are in the care of someone else, and thus will not be a factor."

The grunt then asked the second dumbest question of the night. "Should I get him set up like the other prisoner?"

Lex replied with a rather flat and sarcastic, "No. I want you to leave him there on the floor where he could interfere when he wakes up."

The sarcasm wasn't lost on the nameless grunt, who quickly got to work. Alan's hands were secured behind his back in metal-frame handcuffs, locking the left wrist in the top hole, and the right one in the bottom hole, causing both hands to move in opposite directions and rendered useless. A restraining ring was quickly secured around his arms as well, and this was attached to a chain which was itself attached to a second crane.

Then, as Alan was lifted into the air, each leg would receive a ball and chain attachment, with the ball weighing around 20 pounds, which was quite a bit. And finally, like Josh, Alan would have to bear a blindfold so that things would be a bit less predictable.

Alan was hoisted over a second tank, and then, at the last moment, Lex snapped his fingers, and both tanks would have an unpleasant addition: three Sharpedo each.

Josh squirmed, but he was in the same trap as Alan, and thus had an equal chance of escape. That is to say, no chance whatsoever to pull it off.

There would be a period of further interrogation of Josh, trying to somehow discover the origins of the power that Blade now held, before Alan began to stir.

When Alan woke up completely, he could make out the voice of Lex beyond the blindfold, and groaned mentally. 'That's just great…'

At the same time, Alan could clearly hear Josh responding to Lex, which made him tense up ever so slightly, clearly unhappy that he had dragged him into what he perceived to be his conflict.

For now, though, he knew that they didn't know he was awake, so he could bide his time for now, and try to figure out which Digital Power would get them out of here unharmed.

It would be a good couple of minutes of questions before Alan's mind finally came up with what he thought was a solution to their problem. Moving his hands the best he could, and as quietly as could, he tried to access the celestial/holy power of Hand of Fate, aiming it for the chains binding Josh.

It wasn't a bad plan, cut down Josh, and then he would do the same for Alan. But, there was one problem. The device that was taken off Alan's person was his D-terminal, which was a fancy term for "device which holds my Digi-eggs".

When Alan tried to access the power, he could not, which confused him a bit. After all, he hadn't dealt with such a problem so far in this crisis. But then, something hit him, and hit him hard. They had taken his precious D-Terminal away from him, cutting off his access to those Powers.

Once this fact was ascertained, for some unexplainable reason, Alan completely lost any and all control he had, and began to squirm hard, moving every part of his body that could possibly be moved in an attempt to get free.

Lex looked at Josh and asked for the seventh time, "So, will you tell me about your Pokémon now?"

During the following silence, they both heard the clinking of chains, and Lex looked over to the second crane. After seeing that it was coming from Alan's side of the room, Lex chuckled evilly. "Well, well, well. Look who's come back to the land of the living."

Alan interjected with a very angry, "Shut up, Lex!"

Lex smirked and responded, "You remember me. I'm flattered."

Alan continued to move uncontrollably, demanding, "Tell me what you goons have done with my D-Terminal!" Josh would have looked over to Alan if he had been able to do so, or see where the voice was coming from.

Lex chuckled lightly and then responded, "I don't see why it would make a difference what we did with it. After all, you're our prisoner now. What use would you have for it anyway?"

Alan responded to this question with a growl which would remind Josh of a feral animal. Clearly, Lex had hit on a touchy subject.

Suddenly, Alan was brought down to face level, and he would be asked one question as well. "Now, you can do this the easy way… or the hard way."

The only way Alan could think to respond to this question was with a rather loud, "Screw you!"

Lex laughed and responded, "Oh no. The only person you'll be screwing with that language is yourself." To prove the point, he snapped his fingers, and Alan dropped to the icy waters below. Additionally, he would be run into by some sort of fish which provided tiny cuts in Alan's exposed flesh on his arms.

Alan would surely have been bitten if he had been forced to stay in the water, but that wasn't Lex's goal… yet. He had been given a mission by his superiors, and he would have to try and succeed in completing it. As such, Alan was lifted from the water out of reach of the Sharpedo.

Lex proceeded to seek the target of his superiors once again. "Now, you're going to tell me about those odd abilities you unleash every now and then, aren't you?"

Nothing clicked in Josh's mind immediately, since, to be fair, Wilkinson hadn't been seen in quite some time, meaning that it was possible something had happened between that occurrence a while back and now.

It went without saying that Alan wasn't exactly in the mood to say anything to an evil man like Lex, so the torture would resume soon after for both.

An hour later and Lex was getting visibly frustrated with the lack of progress on either one of his interrogation subjects. "What is it going to take to get you idiots to talk?!"

Another grunt came into the room right about then and tempted Lex's fury by coming up to him and whispering something in his ear. But, unlike the last grunt who started off on the wrong foot as far as the high-ranking Aqua official was concerned, this one appeared to please the man.

"Excellent. Prepare it immediately." The grunt nodded and went off. Lex added, with a clear hint of superiority in his voice, "Well… I've grown bored with the same old tactics. So… it's time to do something completely new. Maybe then you'll talk."

Neither one liked the sound of that; as they would soon find out, their instincts were spot-on…

-Meanwhile, Mauville Police Department's Jail-

As usual, no chances had been taken on securing Kyle and James in their cell, despite the fact that they had shown no resistance to anything that had happened to them to date.

It was a fact, however, that was about to change dramatically. That night, a full moon was out above the streets of the quiet city. On 99 percent of nights, this wouldn't have made one bit of a difference. Unfortunately, this night fell into the one percent in which it made a huge difference.

As James and Kyle slept peacefully in their cell… well, as peacefully as one can sleep when wearing very restrictive handcuffs and shackles, the light of the full moon shone on the cell's window, and right onto Kyle.

If it had been anyone else in the jail, this fact would also have been completely irrelevant. But, for some reason, Kyle's body began to react to the direct moonlight, and began to transform.

It was a fairly typical transformation for someone suffering from lycanthropy. He began to get very, very furry, and his whole physiology was changing dramatically to become far stronger than Kyle should technically have been capable of.

As a result of this transformation, he was able to shatter the bonds around his limbs; an action which woke up the guards almost immediately, and James even quicker than that. It went without saying that James' reaction to a werewolf in his cell was… less than enthusiastic. In fact, it was downright frightened.

When the guards got to their shared cell, their reaction to the mysterious werewolf was… about the same as James' actually.

The head guard yelled, "Shoot it!"

The other guards tried to comply with that order, but it was too fast, and too unpredictable, despite being in a cramped cell. In fact, a couple of times, it had landed on James, causing him bruising, but not much worse.

Eventually, things went from bad to worse when the guards decided to brave the beast in order to get James the heck away from it. The moment the cell door was opened, Kyle tore through the opening, injuring several cops on the way out of the station.

James was still cowering, and no one could still blame him for doing so. Nevertheless, he was moved to a new cell, and an APB was put out on the werewolf, and for information on Evanick's whereabouts.

No one yet had realized that the two incidents were directly linked. Or had cared; an attack by a werewolf will tend to make one care less about the circumstances.

-Team Aqua Base-

Josh and Alan had been led to a new room. They couldn't tell where they had been, or where they were going, largely due to the blindfolds. But, upon entering, each would be led away from the other. Alan would be led into the middle of the large room, while Josh was led up the stairs to an area overlooking the middle of the room.

Lex stood in the upper area, and then nodded to the guards, who then pressed a couple of buttons, and released the restraints which bound him. Alan was, needless to say, more than happy to get them off. When he opened his eyes after removing the blindfold, he would see he was in an arena.

Surely originally intended for Pokémon, today it was bound to have a far more insidious purpose. Lex smirked as he proceeded to have two things done to Josh. A: He had Josh's blindfold removed from him, and B: He had a cleave gag added to Josh, so that he could not speak.

Alan's eyes did deliver a message, one of light depression. The source of that depression was currently unknown, but it really didn't matter to the high-ranking Aqua official.

"You, Alan Wilkinson, will now face a new kind of punishment. You will face an opponent in hand-to-hand combat. If you win, I'll let you and your friend free. If not, you're going to give me everything you know."

Alan, not knowing who the opponent was, did seem confident that he could beat any grunt they had, and even some of the higher-ranking officials. So, with that in mind, he nodded. "I accept your challenge, Lex. Let's just get it over with."

Lex smirked. "Excellent." He snapped his fingers and another door on the far side of the arena opened. The challenger which walked out of that door moments later made Alan pale, like he had just seen a ghost.

For obvious reasons, Josh had no idea why Alan would have such a reaction as a man strode into the arena. That would end when Alan said, "I killed you already!"

The man who strode in didn't respond. However, Lex did. "You are correct. Clark already bit the dust, thanks to your meddling. However, we here at Team Aqua always admired his… raw strength. So, we took it upon ourselves to create a robot modeled on him."

Both Alan and Josh couldn't help but produce a massive sweatdrop when they heard Lex intimate as such.

Lex continued, "He's got a good portion of Clark's natural abilities as a fighter, and a good bit of his knowledge as well. Still think you're up to the task?"

Alan thought about this, and then nodded again. "I beat him once…" He thought to himself, 'With a lot of help, granted, but still… how hard can it be?' He then finished, "… and I can beat him again!"

Lex gave an amused smile, "Tough words, Wilkinson. But, I wonder if you can back them up…"

The answer would quickly be ascertained when Alan had just gotten into a stance. The Clark Robot zoomed into battle with speed which was beyond natural, and punched Alan hard in the face, sending him flying down to the ground. Blood splattered across the floor as he rolled a good distance.

Suddenly, the confident Alan was brought back to earth, both literally and figuratively. When this happened, his confidence was gone, and replaced by depression and guilt.

Lex took full advantage of this fact, and ordered Clark to beat on him. Punches and kicks would be generated at a rapid pace from the robotic body against Alan's soft flesh. Needless to say, flesh lost out to metal every single time, and he would be bruised and bloodied quite badly.

Josh couldn't watch, or at least, he wouldn't have if it weren't for the fact that a grunt held his head, forcing him to see the carnage, as if it were partly Josh's fault for not telling them about Blade.

After just 3 minutes in the arena, Lex raised his arm, and the Clark robot stopped in his tracks. "I think we've seen enough." He turned to Josh, an evil grin on his face. "Isn't that right?"

Josh would have nodded, even if the grunt grabbing his head hadn't already done so. Alan was in bad shape now, and it showed. Bruises littered his body where cuts did not. His face was swollen, and his clothes torn in several places due to rolling over the ground at such great velocity.

Lex then proceeded to give what would be the ultimate insult to Alan. "It wouldn't do to have you going down here… after all; you still need to pay off my end of the wager." He snapped his fingers, and several grunts came in and quickly reattached Alan's restraints. "Take him to the medical ward. And get his stupid clothes repaired properly."

As strange as this request seemed, the grunts didn't dare disobey their boss, and they dragged Alan off. Meanwhile, Lex looked at Josh and smirked again. "As tempted as I am to stick you down there, I think there might be a better solution…"

Afterwards, the gag was removed, and the blindfold replaced. And, as reliable as Old Faithful was the insistence that Josh knew nothing about what happened to Blade.

Not even Aqua's best lie detectors could detect that Josh was doing anything other than telling the truth. And yet, Lex continued to insist that Josh had to know.

It took a good few minutes, but Lex finally hatched an evil plan. Josh was led to a cell where he would spend the night. They changed around the restraints so that Josh was secured to the wall, and his feet secured to the floor. (-ed Think Digimon Frontier 23, but a little more.)

Lex smirked as Josh looked at him. "You will regret not telling me what I seek." A TV was brought in and faced Josh. Then, Lex inserted the DVD in his hand and said simply, "See you in the morning…"

Once they left, the DVD played and it showed the battle between Alan and the Clark Robot; over and over and over again. In between showings of the battle, Josh would see a live feed of Lex's goons fixing up the poor trainer.

It would be difficult to sleep through this, but he eventually found a way.

-The following morning, Pokémon Center-

Ryo was the first to wake up, still completely worried about the state of his friends around him. He yawned and walked out to the main lobby, and then frowned, because he had not seen Josh or Alan in either their shared bedroom, or the lobby.

His frown would grow in length when he saw an envelope on Nurse Joy's desk. Instinctively, he walked over to it and saw written on the front "Ryo and Casey".

Ryo shook his head, thinking to himself, 'This cannot be good…'

His instincts were proven correct when he saw a picture of Josh and Alan in chains and restraints. It would have made Ryo angry enough, even without the note demanding the secret files in a couple hours time or "we'll shoot them".

Trey would wake up just a moment later, and spy on Ryo looking at the note. Seeing his reaction, he woke up Casey as well, who wasn't exactly thrilled about being woken up early.

A few moments later, each of them digested the note separately, and each had a different reaction. Ryo was angry, Casey was pissed, and Trey's right eye twitched once.

Jessie and Meowth would remain snoozing, which was probably a blessing in disguise.

Trey asked, "What do you intend to do?"

Ryo thought and then nodded, "We're going to take the disc to them."

Casey glared at Ryo, "After all the work we went through, you're going to just GIVE it back to them?!"

Ryo shook his head. "I never said that. But, we need to make them think that we are." He turned his head to Trey and added, "While you head to the courthouse with the original files and defend Kyle and Alan."

Trey snorted, "It seems I'm rubbing off on everyone." Dakarimon rolled his eyes lightly and shook his head.

Minutes later, Ryo was seen at one of the Pokémon Center's computers, creating a perfect copy of the disc. He chuckled as he got it, and gave the original to Trey. "Now, go. Before the trial truly begins."

Trey didn't have any problems following this order. They had their job, rescuing Alan and Josh. He had his own work to do with the trial.

Ryo reached into his pack and felt around for a specific Poké Ball. It wasn't long before he hit the resting place of Kendrix. As he picked up the Ball, she responded, 'Do you believe you will be able to rescue your friends?'

Ryo nodded. "We will get them back, no matter what it takes. But, we will need your help to find them in the base."

Kendrix smiled inside her Ball. 'Then I will help you find them.'

Ryo nodded to Casey lightly. "Let's get moving." Casey nodded in agreement, but suddenly, another Poké Ball popped open, revealing a Charmander. Clearly, it was Tommy.

Tommy simply said, "You aren't going to go on a rescue mission without me!"

Casey shook her head and said, "I should have known something like that would happen."

Tommy smirked, "You seriously thought that I wouldn't want to be a part of your team?"

Ryo chuckled, "Of course not. Come on, then. Get back in your Ball, and we'll get moving."

Tommy gave Ryo a thumbs-up, and then popped back into his Poké Ball.

-40 minutes later, Anime Store-

When Ryo and Casey crossed the door into the store, it was mysteriously empty. Clearly, the grunts of Team Aqua were ready for something to happen.

Casey frowned and whispered, "Be ready for anything." Kendrix's voice rang in the two children's heads moments later. 'There are quite a few grunts waiting to ambush you just beyond the door leading into the base.'

Both Ryo and Casey got a bit nervous, sweatdropping, before they huddled up to decide their next course of action. After some consideration, they nodded and released their Pokémon.

-On the other side of the door…-

Several Grunts were expecting to catch the brats completely off-guard and take the last of the Digidestined captive other than their primary target. Unfortunately, what they hadn't counted on was a Solarbeam and a Flamethrower coming through the door as it opened, impacting every Grunt standing there, and sending them into the wall.

Both Ryo and Casey looked at each other, laughed at the Aqua Grunts' general incompetence, and then tore into the base, following Kendrix's lead all the way.

-Meanwhile, in the Storage Chamber…-

The Poké Balls and other various items inside the chamber weren't under very heavy guard. After all, what was there that could be done by a couple of prisoners kept under constant lock and key? The Balls contained Pokémon, granted, but it was rare for one to break out and do much of anything.

Unfortunately, this was one of those rare times, for suddenly one of the balls abruptly opened to reveal Josh's very own Blade, the one which Lex had been trying to figure out through Josh himself with little success.

He looked around, and shook his head. "Grovyle…" He could see several devices, including Josh's own standard Digivice, as well as Alan's, and another device next to it. There was also a particular Poké Ball hidden in a special see-through box.

Blade blinked, but then decided to bust the box wide open using the blades attached to his arms. (-ed Yes, I do realize he probably shouldn't have it in his arsenal yet, but come on! He's got them attached to him; he should know how to use them in general.)

This move would shatter the box, and one of the shards accidentally hit the button popping open the Ball. To Blade's surprise, Toaster popped out. "Torchic tor."

Blade would nod lightly. "Gro vyle vyle Grovyle."

Toaster tilted his head, before he decided it would be a good idea to follow his partner's friend's partner.

Getting out of the chamber was another story. After grabbing the devices which Aqua had stolen from them, they needed to leave. But, the door was reinforced against burglars. Ironic, when one considers what many would see Aqua as.

But, nevertheless, it presented a big problem. Blade tried to slice through, while Toaster used his Ember and Peck attacks to do the same. Unfortunately, none of this was particularly successful, only creating minor scratches and imperfections in the door.

It was at this moment that Toaster got the idea to ask Blade about what had happened to his partner. "Torchic tor chic chic?"

Blade sighed, and then iterated the story, knowing Toaster hadn't been out since his partner was arrested.

Hearing the entire story, however, had a bit of an unusual effect on Toaster. He got angry… REALLY angry. And, as a result of his anger, he began to glow white and change form. True evolution had somehow been triggered by Kyle's injustice.

When the light stopped a few moments later, Toaster was much larger, much leaner, and looked quite pissed. "Com… bus… ken!" he cried out as he used a flying kick and, surprisingly, knocked down the door, creating a very large bang, and what normally would have been an immediate response.

-Back at the Anime end of the base…-

It turned out the reason that Toaster's jailbreak didn't catch any attention was because all the attention had been diverted to Ryo and Casey.

Ryo groaned as they ran through the base as per Kendrix's instructions. "Couldn't we have done this any quieter?"

Casey shook her head. "I doubt it. They were ready for us this time."

Kendrix interjected, 'So long as you follow my directions, we'll find both of them.'

Ryo panted a bit from exertion and responded dryly, "I certainly hope so. Or else all we did was for nothing."

-Inside the Interrogation Room, 90 seconds later-

Alan and Josh had been re-established in their positions. Both were tired, hungry, and in low spirits. Lex smirked as he regarded the two of them hanging before him. "So, are we finally ready to reveal what Team Aqua wants to know?"

Josh's response was extremely predictable, "How many times do I have to tell you? I know nothing."

Lex frowned, displeased with this answer. But, in his mind, all could be made well again if Alan indulged him and let him know what it was he wanted to know.

Alan was at such a low point after his battle with the Clark Robot that his mental defenses had just about spluttered out completely.

However, before Alan got to speak word 1, he suddenly heard a very familiar voice in his head. No… make that two.

'Don't give up, Alan. No matter what, don't give up.' 'Yeah! We're here, and we'll rescue you!'

Upon hearing both of these voices, Alan's eyes lit up, and looked like he was full of far more life. Lex noticed the fact that he seemed to be coming out of his depression, and frowned. "You finally decide to make things easy on yourself?"

Alan smirked and said, "You'll regret ever bringing us to this place, Lex."

Lex looked at Alan with a scowl on his face, but then decided to break him again, by snapping his fingers and having him dropped into the tank beneath. However, Alan would never make splashdown, as halfway into his fall, he suddenly stopped.

It would be followed just moments later by an explosion at the door as Charmeleon blasted through with Flamethrower, the debris hitting the two grunts behind Lex hard.

Lex glared at the two Digidestined standing there in the wreckage of the door. "You two will pay for-" He never got to finish his sentence before Tommy had leapt off a high-flying Kendrix and cut Lex across the face several times.

Alan could just sense Kendrix's presence right above him and smiled. "I knew you'd find a way."

Kendrix smirked as she began to break the basic chains holding Josh and Alan aloft. 'Liar.'

Down below, Ryo and Casey's Pokémon were doing battle with those from Aqua. And despite the general difficulty, Charmeleon was having fun. "This is more of a workout than those losers Trey hangs out with could provide."

At that moment, Jessie, James and Meowth all simultaneously sneezed; something about talking about someone behind their back.

Charmeleon used Flamethrower against the enemy Sharpedo which, thanks to a great level difference, dealt quite a bit of damage, and created some fried fish.

Charmeleon smirked as Alan quipped, "Too bad we don't have some chips."

Josh groaned as Kendrix worked to get both of them down. Constant Ice Beam attacks from Seel and Spheal meant that she had to be constantly moving in order to avoid taking a devastating blow. Otherwise, she would have had them both cut down in a matter of moments.

As it stood, though, it would only slow Kendrix down by a matter of minutes before she had done her job.

Down below, Ryo and Casey were slowly being overwhelmed by the number of Aqua Grunts and their Pokémon. Even with Tommy's help, the sheer volume of foes was rather troubling.

Lex, still steaming over this entire scenario ordered, "Get them now!" And it would have worked rather well… were it not for the fact that from seemingly nowhere, a blow came to the back of Lex's head, and sent him reeling to the ground below.

The thud with which Lex landed might as well have been a quake, sending shockwaves through all the Grunts standing there. Without their leader, their bravery was quickly converting into cowardice.

And when they saw the critter responsible for conking their leader out cold, another chill went up their spines. It was the Pokémon that Lex had plans for previously: Toaster.

Toaster stood there, arms folded over, almost daring someone to come after him. That would have been bad enough, but then they saw an even more frightening sight… Blade, holding Alan's D-terminal and both of their Digivices.

This was more than enough for the rest of the Grunts to grab their boss and high-tail it out of there before things got really ugly.

Alan snickered quietly as Casey proceeded to let him out of his restraints; Ryo doing the same with Josh.

Both men would rub their sore wrists after they were freed. Josh nodded lightly as he was released. "Thank you for coming, you two."

Ryo smiled back, "Hey, what are friends for?"

Alan took his D-terminal and Digivice from Blade, as he walked over to Josh to hand his master his Digivice as well.

Josh smiled and then asked, "Where are all the other Pokémon?" Blade pointed out toward the hallway. "Grov grov vyle." Josh nodded. "We need to do that on our way out, then."

Alan shook his head and said, "You guys go on ahead of me. I've got some… unfinished business."

Casey immediately objected to the idea, "But-"

Alan interjected almost immediately. "Don't worry about me, Casey. I won't be long."

Ryo looked at both of them, and then shook his head. "Come on. If he's right, he'll be done by the time we'd be ready to leave anyway."

Alan smiled. "See? He gets it."

Josh groaned and rubbed his head. "Can we just get on with it?"

Alan sweatdropped, but nodded lightly as he made his way to take care of his business.

While the rest of the Digidestined went off to the Storage Chamber, Alan went off toward the Arena, where he was just a day ago. How did he know where to go? He didn't. He basically moved about randomly until he stumbled upon it.

When he got there, he would see the target of his aggression. The Clark Robot who had handed him his backside the previous day.

Alan smirked and said, "Do you mind if I cut you in half?" The Clark Robot didn't respond, and instead moved in with good speed to attack.

Alan's smirk grew as he said, "I couldn't hear you." He then summoned his Fire Saber, and, with all the feeling and determination he could muster, he slashed downward into the charging robot, literally cleaving it in two.

-A short time later-

Ryo, Casey and Josh were first to emerge from the store's hidden facility, each one looking at another and trying to gauge how much time they had spent down below.

For this reason, and because they needed a moment to catch their collective breath, they went to look at some anime and anime-based merchandise on the shelves.

About a minute later, Alan came out, equally short of breath. Casey smiled and asked, "So, did you do whatever it was that you wanted to do?"

Alan was able to crack a smile, and nodded in the affirmative. Josh summed up their feelings best, "I'm just glad to be out of there."

As a group, they decided to spend a bit of time here, have some lunch, and then get to the trial for the afternoon session, knowing very well that Trey wasn't going to let it end very quickly.

-Outside of Mauville…-

A dazed and confused Kyle Evanick wandered the forest southwest of town; hand on his head, in obvious pain. 'What on earth… happened to me last night? And why am here, instead of at my trial?'

Both were great questions which could have been answered by any number of witnesses, but they weren't exactly around; or in a friendly mood. In either case, he would remain in a great deal of pain as the day proceeded onward.

At times, he thought he could hear footsteps, likely cops who were pursuing him. And at other times, he thought he could smell something… something which was making him feel nervous and aggressive simultaneously.

But, as the sun continued to move, the feelings of anticipation would grow, and he couldn't pinpoint exactly why.

'Just got to stay safe… until I know… what is going on with me…' Kyle's thoughts were correct, but he wouldn't have a long time to wait before his condition would take over again.

-Later that day, Mauville Courthouse-

The lunch break had been and gone, and the free Digidestined entered the courtroom just after their lunch recess. Mandy was sitting there in the gallery, looking rather bored with herself.

Alan sat down next to her and smiled gently, poking her lightly and whispering, "What did we miss?"

Mandy yawned and turned to the curious Digidestined. "Not a whole lot. Been looking for Magma or Aqua to make their move here all morning, and they haven't. Trey's been blowing away all the testimony using his disk, and making matters worse, both of the accused aren't here now."

Alan, and indeed the others who had sat down behind the two of them, nodded lightly at all the statements. At first, even the statement about the fact that one of the prisoners had gone missing went over their heads due to Mandy's less-than-excited tone.

But, it didn't take an exceptionally long time for Ryo to ask a very simple question. "So, who exactly has gone missing?"

Mandy, who was still looking rather bored, responded with a monotone, "Kyle."

Casey would be the first to really take interest, followed closely by Alan. "What exactly happened? Was he taken by Magma or something?" Casey asked in a quizzical tone.

Mandy shook her head lightly. "Not according to the police report; something about… some kind of wolf creature, or a werewolf, or something of that ilk. I think they were just acting strange because of the full moon, but stranger things have happened."

Alan thought about this for a few moments, but it was Ryo who asked the question. "Does anyone know how it got into the jail?"

Mandy shook her head, still looking tired. "No one is quite sure. No real points of entry which we could go upon. It was just there after some time, and then left more forcefully afterward."

A general brainstorming would soon follow, as Ryo basically intimated that he doubted greatly the probability that Aqua or Magma were behind it, since they wouldn't have desired drawing that much attention to themselves so close to the trial date.

There really weren't a whole lot of other theories that sounded even remotely plausible, so the subject was quickly dropped. Strangely enough, one of the theories which came up, but quickly shot down, was that Kyle was a werewolf.

In the main courtroom, the grilling continued, as Trey continued to shoot holes in the case brought forth by the prosecution. The main crux of any argument, one way or another, was the disc.

One particular sequence stood out in people's minds when it came to the trial. It took place when Trey was cross-examining the prosecution's main character witness, Police Chief Kent.

"Chief Kent, what makes you so sure that my clients were members of Team Aqua?" Trey asked, doing his best impersonation of a lawyer on TV.

"We had gotten a tip that there were going to be some people there within the span of a few days who were suspected to be members of Team Aqua. Luckily, we had pictures and profiles to match."

Trey nodded lightly. "Interesting… so tell me, why were they allowed to run free for a full 24 hours before arrest occurred? Why weren't there people at the gate, ready and waiting?"

Police Chief Kent was beginning to sweat just a little, and Trey could tell immediately. "We had many other issues on our mind that day, and no one spotted them until that night; which is why we had the trap set the following day."

Trey nodded quietly. "And how do you know that the documents which were found on my clients were genuine? Could they not have been forged for some sort of plan?"

The prosecution yelled out, "Objection!" Once they had everyone's attention, the lawyer asked, "Relevance to the case, your honor?"

Trey argued, "If the prosecution is going to continue to argue that the disc that was procured from Aqua HQ is a fake, where exactly is the grounds to dismiss an argument of the same on the other side of the case?"

Judge Ackerson nodded lightly, "Overruled."

Trey continued, "You didn't have any definitive proof that they were part of this organization. Observing the movements of their agents, for example, or even having so much as a shred of hard evidence. It was all completely circumstantial, wasn't it?"

The prosecutor thought about objecting again, but Trey did have a point. Despite the case built against the two boys, there hadn't been a shred of hard evidence in the entire file except for those two suspect documents.

Chief Kent responded by saying, "Would you rather me take the chance and bring two suspected terrorists in, or let them wander the streets until we could prove their guilt?"

The three judges on the panel nodded to each other, clearly finding something which either helped or hurt the prosecution in that last statement. Trey looked at the judges and then back to the Chief. "From the perspective of the defense, it appears the Mauville Police did both."

"Objection!"

Trey shook his head, "I withdraw my previous statement. No more questions."

-A couple more hours later, around 5:30 PM-

Following the final statements from both "attorneys" in this trial, the 3 judges went off to convene and come up with a verdict. The fact that Kyle was gone didn't help the defense's case, but the prosecution's case had been shot full of holes through the course of that day's work.

Dakarimon sat on the sidelines, looking confident that Trey's powers of debate would mean that both of them would be found not guilty, and they could put this mess behind them.

The sun had already set outside, lending an even greater ominous feeling to the already tense proceedings.

The boredom which had worked its way into Mandy had done the same with the rest of the Digidestined present, with the lone exception of the man defending Josh and Kyle.

The three judges returned with their verdict. Ackerson spoke for each of them. "In the case of Hoenn vs. James Morana and Kyle Evanick, we find the defendants… not guilty."

A general gasp went through the courtroom, followed by murmurs from the people gathered in the gallery. James smiled and would have hugged Trey… if he didn't feel uncomfortable about such an action in the first place.

Suddenly, from the gallery, a voice rose, "Surrender him to us immediately, or your city will suffer the consequences!"

Everyone in the gallery turned to the source of the voice and found an average-looking person. That is, until said person threw off their outer clothes and revealed the very familiar Team Aqua uniform.

Everyone gasped again when this happened, as suddenly Mandy shot up from her seat. "Hold it right there!"

A second Aqua grunt would join the first in standing up and revealing themselves to the general public. "I wouldn't do that, if I were you…"

Alan asked in a rather sharp tone, "And why on earth wouldn't we do anything?"

Grunt number one would reply with an evil laugh, a smirk, and a warning. "Simple, take us out, and you will put the entire city in danger. We have agents on the nearby lake, ready to flood this place entirely, unless we get both him, and the escaped fugitive."

Mandy glared at the two Aqua grunts and replied with a simple, yet forceful, "That's impossible! Our forces were there just this morning!"

Grunt number two laughed quite loudly. "Obviously, you must have missed something, little girl."

Mandy growled, but then a new voice rose from the murmurs of the crowd. "Not so fast!"

As everyone turned toward this voice, they would see the very familiar Magma uniform on someone else who was in the gallery. Mandy groaned, "All this time here, and I couldn't spot one of them?"

The Magma grunt would deliver a similar threat. "Resist our 'request', and we have Camerupt ready to pelt the town with fiery boulders."

Josh quipped, "And just what would that request be?"

The Magma crony opened his mouth, and was about to say something, but nothing came out. Everyone waited for quite a few moments before he said, "I knew I should have written it down…" causing a massive facefault from the crowd.

A few moments later, his feelings would reflect those of the Aqua grunts now stuck in the same uncomfortable position as the single Magma grunt. "Who cares? Let's rumble!"

Apparently "Let's rumble" was a codeword, because 5 or 6 additional grunts, each armed to the teeth with Pokémon, ran into the room via the entrance to the Judge's Chambers, ready to fight.

The two Aqua grunts smirked and said, "You wanna bring it? Then we'll bring it too!" A whistle later, and 4 more Aqua grunts broke in through the Courtroom's very fragile windows.

It went without saying that the rest of the Digidestined, as well as Mandy and the Police, weren't going to take this sitting down. The first course of action was to escort James to safety, since he would be of little use without his Pokémon.

Then it was time… to take care of the intruders.

As far as the teams of Magma and Aqua were concerned, there was nothing particularly unusual in their arsenals. After all, they were hoping to overwhelm with numbers, and not strategy.

As a result, many Sharpedo, Sealeo, Tentacool, Tentacruel and Seaking came out from the Aqua Poké Balls. On the Magma side, it was Mightyena, Slugma, Magcargo, Ninetales and Growlithe.

The Police Pokémon stock was also completely predictable, consisting of only Electabuzz and Growlithe. But, with nearly 50 creatures now in the courtroom, they did have the advantage of sheer numbers, at least in comparison to each individual faction.

And then there were the Digidestined, the wild card faction in this battle. For fairly obvious reasons, Josh and Alan were more than happy to take the Aqua's head on. This left Casey and Ryo to take on the fire-based Magma squad, a prospect which sat very well with Charmeleon.

Trey's eye twitched and a tremor ran down his back. Dakarimon slipped over to him, blocking errant attacks and knocking people and creatures out of his way. He stood nearby, keeping his unmoving partner from being damaged. Dakarimon felt the growing pressure from Trey as he worked his way around, trying to keep a broad clearing around the defense bench.

Kendrix launched into the fray against Team Aqua, ducking and dodging the many pitfalls of being a flier against their team. 'You won't take me that easily, Aqua goons.' She thought to herself as she ran through a couple of Pokémon with the use of Drill Peck, knocking them out rather handily.

Aquaris was having similar luck against the Magma grunts. This wasn't exactly surprising, given that Aquaris was a Water-type, but still, it was impressive when it was against a foe like a Magcargo.

The enemy wasn't taking this lying down, either, sending Pokémon after the Digidestined and the Police, knowing very well that with their great numbers, there was only a matter of time before they would wear down. And the terrorists would have been right about their entire situation… except for one tiny detail.

"That…is…ENOUGH!" There was a concussive blast of force that blew out from the epicenter; Trey Miller.

The room fell silent. No one moved. No one even breathed.

"Dakarimon, to me." The lupine Digimon stepped over to Trey's side, pulling his naginata from…somewhere. Trey turned to the room, his gaze sweeping over every person and creature. Everyone who caught the look in his eyes shivered. It was cold, harsh, hard (Kyle later said the look was worse than that in some of the evil Digimon he had encountered.)

Trey slowly and calmly reached down to his belt of Pokéballs, running a finger over the tops of each one until he stopped at his fourth. He slowly unclipped it and triggered it. With a flash of light, his Lapras appeared. He spoke softly, "What patience I still had during this farce of a trial has been exhausted, thanks to you lot. You have attacked me, attacked those who I have travelled with, and put each and every person around us in danger repeatedly."

Trey's eyes tracked to the large cluster of red suited people. "Team Magma, let it be known, I tire of your senseless acts of stupidity. Make the world nothing but land? Hah! You ask for the world to be leveled, a literal sea of sand and rock; with nothing living stretching from one end of the world to the other. I promise to let one of you survive this day to tell your supervisors that they have targeted the wrong group of people."

"Team Aqua, your ideology is almost worse than your land-obsessed counterpart! Sink the world under water; what are you going to do? Demolish every landmass to the depths of the sea? If anything survived the destruction, the waters would be nothing but mud in the end. Also, you seem to be of the mind that I am an easy target. Only one of you will return to tell your bosses of this mistake."

He turned his glare on the people who he had travelled with. "Digidestined, it is my opinion that you are the absolute worst of the lot. In an environment that would force your partners to grow, you ignore them. In a world in which you see evil every day, all you do is allow it to walk away; the Digital World obviously taught you nothing. Understand this, if we meet after all is said and over with, do not expect an apology. You are fools for not turning a weakness into strength."

Before anyone could say or do anything, he turned back to Team Magma. "Allow me to demonstrate the proper way to take care of evil. Lapras, Ice Beam. Eliminate them." Lapras didn't hesitate to unleash a torrent of subzero energy at the humans. Within seconds the first grouping of Team Magma members were flash frozen.

Across the room one single emotion flashed across everyone's face. One single realization came to everyone's mind. This was no longer just a battle for dominance in competition.

This was a fight for their life.

With few wasted motions, Trey unleashed his Grovyle and Aggron. With only the command, "No quarter to Aqua and Magma. Clear the way through any means you need," the four monsters and one human burst into movement.

Aggron and Dakarimon went for Magma and their Pokémon, foregoing their named attacks for simple obliteration due to 'No Quarter.' Dakarimon slid under a rushing Ninetales, which was backhanded by Aggron, and came up in front of one of the female Magma's. Without a second thought, he brought the naginata around, slicing through the air where her throat had been, her having tripped and fallen backwards. Not missing a beat, he switched the grip on the polearm and slammed the bladed end down into her, jerked it out, and went looking for another target. Aggron was being targeted by three Slugma's, under a constant deluge of fire, and was ignoring it for the sake of simply smashing his clawed foot into each one, shattering the shell.

Grovyle jumped from the top of Lapras' long neck, landing amidst the Aqua trainers and quickly catching one in the Achilles' tendon, severing it and dropping them to the ground in pain. Lapras targeted a Tentacruel and quickly fried it and the two Tentacool nearby with a concentrated Thunderbolt.

Trey tore into one of the numerous grunts, shattering his wrist and elbow with a twist and jab before slamming the knife-edge of his hand into the Aqua's throat and dropping him. He turned to see Ryo standing there.

"Yes, Ryo?"

Ryo had seen many things in his life, but the picture of Trey just standing over the twitching body of another human was almost too absurd. "Trey, what's going on?"

"I'm ending this."

Ryo shook his head, "No, I mean, why? Why are you doing this? What did you mean the Digiworld didn't teach us anything?" Inside his mind, he was screaming to run as hard and as fast as he could away from the scene.

"You didn't understand?" Trey seemed surprised. "I would have thought, of all the Destined, you would understand better than any of the others what I meant." Trey fixed Ryo with a stare that froze him in place. "When you begin to understand that this is a war, one that must be fought for the sake of the future, then you will know what I meant."

Ryo's mind went blank as he attempted to parse this. The next thing he knew, Trey's fist was quickly approaching his face, and then all was black.

Trey looked behind the falling Ryo and saw Josh and Casey rushing him. He ducked under Josh's wild swing and tripped him before spinning and burying his fist in Casey's solar plexus. The look on her face was almost priceless. He leaned in to her and whispered, "After this is over, all of you need to grow stronger. Much stronger, if you are ever going to survive fighting me." He threw her off his fist, letting her land on top of Josh.

"That's far enough, Trey." Trey turned his head enough to see Alan over his shoulder. He slowly turned toward the other young man.

"Alan, move."

"I can't do that, Miller. You screwed the pooch with that little act just then. Hurting Casey was the last of the stupid moves you've done today." Alan attacked with a snap kick which Trey intercepted with a fist to the side of the knee. Before he could push the pain away, Trey lashed out with a punch to the jaw and knocked him down.

"Funny thing about screwing the pooch. If you know what you're doing, you get away with it." He stepped around Alan, grabbing a Houndour and hurling it into the path of some water attack.

"I should have realized you were into bestiality, you prick!" Alan slammed both fists into Trey's kidneys, followed by a kick to the back of the head. "Now stay down!"

Trey spat blood, resisting the urge to curl up in pain until he recuperated. He was going to feel that for a week or more. Alan's attention shifted off of him to one of his Pokémon for just a second, and Trey took it. He rolled to his feet and then stepped forward, planting a foot in Alan's gut before grabbing him by the shoulders, heaving his knee into Alan's mouth and nose.

Alan fell over backwards, landing hard on the floor, and Trey's knee bashed into his nose a second time in just as many seconds. Alan blinked back the tears enough to make out Trey's silhouette just in time to see Trey's foot approach. Then darkness overtook him.

Trey turned around just in time to see Aggron grab a second Ninetales and a Magcargo and slam them violently into the wall nearby, cracking the plaster and shaking the building. He then did this several more times until the wall crumbled outward and the two fire types dropped to the ground, most certainly the worst for wear. A second later, Aggron lunged out the new entrance to avoid being pummeled by multiple attacks.

Lapras' overpowered Hydro Pump was proof enough that the miniature leviathan was a force to be reckoned with, as everyone attempted to escape through the newly made exit. She cleared out the remainder of the courtroom by launching a charged Thunderbolt into the fray. After looking around to make sure no one but Trey and the unconscious Destined were left, she made her way out to the other battlefield.

Trey followed her, keeping an eye on everything as he planned his next move. He winced as his Grovyle was slashed across his chest by Blade, and retaliated with a strike to the head. They backed up as Casey's Electrike plowed through with a flailing Crawdaunt in its mouth, stopped, looked at each other, turned and attacked separate targets.

The fighting was keeping to a small spread of the open street, Dakarimon noted. He weaved between attacking Polywrath's, turning completely around to scan the whole battlefield before whirling into a ball of claws, taking out first one, and then the other Polywrath before they knew what hit them. He stood tall and sniffed; semi-sweet, pungent, and a bit sulfur-like. His eyes widened and he bolted toward where Trey was fighting.

Dakarimon jumped next to Trey, "Someone's ruptured a gas mane nearby! We need to push this fight away before it explodes. Down!" Trey ducked as Dakarimon swung the naginata around, bisecting a superheated rock and sending the broken shards careening away.

Trey whirled around, blocking a grapple from one of the officers and swung him into a roll. "Agreed! Start forcing the fight away, I'll try to shut off the gas!"

Dakarimon nodded and headed off to complete his mission as Trey began to work his way toward one of the utilities boxes. He hadn't even made it three steps when a crackling Ember attack flew overhead and hit the line. There was a millisecond as the gas ignited where Trey could feel the vacuum as air was sucked in before the pipe exploded. He went with the explosive force, rolling twice before coming to his feet and charging headlong into the courthouse as parts of it caught on fire.

Trey scrambled over the ruined wall, slipping on pebbled concrete and loose debris. He misstepped and fell forward, catching himself at the last instant and shoving forward, rolling gracelessly into the courtroom. There on the floor were the still unconscious forms of the Destined.

He looked at them for a moment and sighed, "I swear, you lot keep jumping out of the frying pan at the worst possible moments."

Staggering over to them, he grabbed Alan and threw him over his shoulder before turning and making his way back across the rubble. A bit later, he collapsed on the ground next to the group, coughing and breathing hard. He looked at them for a moment and chuckled, "Much more of this, and I'm gonna be dead before I've even started to live."

Trey stood and surveyed the scene. What was left of Team Magma was running away with what looked like a quarter of the police in hot pursuit, and Aqua was running the other direction with the same. He whistled sharply, grabbing Dakarimon's attention and nodded; time to go.

Dakarimon made his way to each of their three Pokémon, giving a signal to break away and bug out. Lapras summoned up the energy to perform a half-complete Surf as they began to back off. The miniature tidal waves dual purpose was to both provide an incredible distraction to everyone, and to help quench the spreading fire. In the haze of smoke and steam, Trey and his team disappeared.

Josh coughed and groaned loudly from the pain of doing that. He slowly pulled his body up and looked around. They, the Destined were outside of the slowly smoldering courthouse. There were plenty of wounded or dead Pokémon and people lying around, and... Why were they out here anyway?

His short term memory cleared up and he winced. Ah, Trey did this. Well, not this exactly, but he had a great hand in causing this. That thought could be picked apart later. He wobbled over to the others, checking on them and rousing them.

Alan's only response when he returned to consciousness was, "He's dead. He just doesn't know it yet." The others weren't quite as certain of Trey's demise as Alan, but didn't want to say anything that could push the other young man over the breaking point.

Within minutes of Josh waking, emergency services had arrived on the scene, securing a perimeter and beginning triage, damage control, and the likes. The Destined were shuttled over to a small alcove and told not to leave until the police had cleared them. Paramedics and firefighters alike checked on them, bandaging what wounds they had (Alan refused anything more than a cold compress for his nose).

Little by little, construction crews of Pokémon and machine arrived to clear away the damage and begin work. Each Destined was politely asked to leave the group to be interviewed in private, both on what occurred, and what their relationship with Trey was. After which, they were shuttled to the Mauville Pokémon Center to sleep the night away.

It was a bit of a surprise to find Kyle there before them, but when questioned as to his disappearance, he simply shrugged and told the Destined the same thing he had told the officers before, "All I recall is a lot of pain and then waking up in one of the warehouses."

No one was willing or able to dispute that. Over the next two days, each of the Destined visited with several trained psychologists for one-on-one and group discussions, trying to move past the traumatic events. Trey's name wasn't spoken much anymore as both Casey and Alan would become very cold when he was brought up. Ryo and Josh, having seen what Trey could do were wary of him, but noted that he did have a point in how they dealt with problems. Kyle, gaining knowledge of Trey's actions through everyone's recounting, was concerned as to what he could and would do next.

Team Aqua and Team Magma's threats had been real, police and the Destined later found out, but something, or someone had swept through each, removing the problem in such a way that any blame would fall on the other organization; although, some suspected that Trey had something to do with it.

The "Mauville Shakedown," as newspapers called it, had far and wide repercussions. Everywhere, businesses and departments alike began a serious look into everyone on their payroll, catching and arresting everyone from smalltime criminals to members of Team Aqua, Magma, and the likes. Trey Miller was quietly listed as wanted in connection to the deaths of several members of known criminal organizations, with the underscoring of 'observe and attempt to detain, but do not force him.'

It would be several months, if not years, before more of the story behind the "Mauville Shakedown" came to light, but everyone could tell that whatever happened afterwards was going to be far worse than ever before.

-Roughly five hours later, location unknown-

[Now loading HoennNet Telecommunications OS v.5.8.5]

[The time is... 23:16 Hoenn Standard Time, Please be aware the people you call may be asleep at this time"

[...]

[Phone Directory Accessed- B's... Birch, Sasuke, Professor... Dialing]

[Initializing connection... Connection established through port 6115]

[Attempting Video Conference... Accepted.]

"Professor Birch speaking. Ah, Trey! Interesting way of staying out of the limelight."

"Heh, yessir. It wasn't one of my best plans."

"Yes, I've already received word of the situation there in Mauville. I presume you're going with your secondary plan?"

"Yeah, it'll be easier if I stay off the beaten trail to take care of things. Would you please send me the items I left with you?"

"They're on their way. I'm also including two other items you will need on your journey. As for your plan, we're finishing phase two currently. Good luck Trey."

"Thank you, sir. Hopefully I've got more than just luck on my side."

"Oh, one thing before you go. Project Boomer is green lighted. I'll send the files on this, too."

"Thanks again."

"Not a problem, son."

[Video Conference Closed... OK]

[Disconnecting from port 6115... OK]

[This terminal is now entering Sleep Mode.]

Josh's note: None of us own the rights to GekiRanger, or the Super Sentai series. No challenge to copyright is implied by its appearance on this program. This would be the first example of a secondary disclaimer. Here's another. I also don't own the Digicross franchise. That belongs to Patrick O'Shea. Thank you.

Next Episode: So much content, so little time. Three authors, three different stories, all taking place in the aftermath of the Shakedown. What happens when the newest HoennDestined challenges Wattson? What new evil looms over Hoenn? And what happened to Trey after he left Mauville? Find out next time!


	3. RoD 3: Trio of Minis

Narrator: Today, we have a special treat for you, folks. We have two mini-episodes, complied into one larger episode! Then, after those two mini-episodes are over, we also have an extra mini-mini episode waiting for you at the end of the show. Enjoy!

First half of Episode 33: "Shades of Gray"

Episode Written by Alan Wilkinson

Following the events of the "Mauville Shakedown", the town began to slowly rebuild its shattered existence. For years, they had lived knowing something could happen. Now, they would live with the knowledge that it could happen again.

As usual, the Digidestined were caught in the middle of it all. At different points during that week, they had stood accused of being a part of it, and done their best to end it. Now that it was over, Kyle, Ryo, Josh and Casey stood ready to move out of Mauville City with a new ally in tow.

Friday morning, they were finally ready to do just that, emerging from the Pokémon Center rested and relaxed.

"Finally… we're ready to get outta here." Casey said, more enthusiastic than she had been during any of their sessions earlier in the week.

Kyle nodded quickly in agreement. "I won't be sad to leave here, that's for sure."

While not quite as polarized about the situation, Josh and Ryo felt exactly the same way. "The good news is that if we go north outta town, we're going to hit Fallarbor." Ryo observed, reading a map.

Josh added while reading Ryo's map, "and apparently near there is Lavaridge Town, home of our fourth Gym Battle."

Alan, who had been trailing behind, heard this talk when something popped into his head. "Uh… guys?" He said kind of sheepishly.

Kyle turned back and asked, "What is it, Alan?"

Given the circumstances, Alan was a bit embarrassed to have to be asking this, but he knew that if he didn't do it now, he wasn't going to get another chance for quite some time. "I was in such a hurry when I got here to help Kyle that… I kinda forgot to do my Gym Battle here."

A general groan went through the party at that moment. "You mean we can't leave until tomorrow?" Casey whined.

"If we plan on having Alan come with us, then I guess not." Ryo stated.

Josh added, "Besides, it wouldn't do to rob Alan of his opportunity to shine, even in these circumstances."

Alan smiled and nodded. "Thanks, you guys."

Casey might not have been happy with being forced to stay a bit longer, but that was tempered by the fact that she could see more of her favourite type of Pokémon. Similarly for Kyle, he would get to see one of his friends in action.

Half an hour later and some last-minute team changes later, inside Mauville Gym, one of the places spared the carnage of Magma and Aqua's foolish actions, Wattson stood on one side of the arena, and Alan on the other. Alan even managed to convince Wattson to use his team he'd normally save for special challengers, using the reason, "I want everything you've got."

Unfortunately, "everything you've got" also included those annoying shock-inducing bracelets everyone else had to wear during their bouts with Wattson.

Alan looked at the bracelets and raised an eyebrow before saying in a very cold fashion, "I don't fight on an uneven playing field."

All of the Digidestined lightly sweatdropped. Wattson was taken aback by the talk Alan was throwing his way.

Alan smirked and said, "Or are you too much of a bully and a coward to take your own tactics?"

The smile was wiped off of Wattson's face temporarily before he laughed. "I am not afraid of my own tactics!" He turned to an assistant and demanded, "Bring them on!"

About a minute later, they both wore the devices and stood on opposite sides of the arena.

With the Digidestined sitting in the stands, and all combatants ready, all that remained was for the gym announcer to say, "3-on-3, no time limit. Let's get started!"

"Ladies first!" Alan quipped.

"Funny." Wattson smiled. "But let's see how amusing you find this. Go, Electabuzz!"

The appearance of Casey's favourite produced mixed feelings for her. While she enjoyed seeing it, she couldn't help feeling disappointed that Wattson hadn't used it against her.

"Fine." Alan palmed an Ultra Ball and threw it. "Go, Ampharos!" The final evolution of Mareep appeared. "Ready, Chip?"

This cheered Casey up some. Two fully evolved Electric-types going at it was sure to be fun. Kyle and Tommy settled in either side of her. (Editor's Note: Casey doesn't know about Electivire, clearly.)

"Nice to see Wattson varying his Pokémon," Ryo remarked. "Using the same three kinds of Pokémon most of the time can't be very fulfilling for him."

"That's why Alan will never try to go after your Singles title." Tommy told him. "If he could only use one Pokémon in every battle he fought, he'd bore himself to death."

"Begin!" the announcer declared.

"Thunder Punch!" Wattson and Alan called together.

"There they go!" Casey cheered.

As the two Pokémon shot towards each other, it was clear Electabuzz had the speed advantage, but due to good timing from Chip, the two fists collided with each other, both Pokémon knocked back from the recoil. Their trainers yelled in pain from the shocks from their bracelets.

"And this is what people go through here _all the time_?" Alan demanded.

Judging from his expression, it had been quite a bit more painful than Wattson had expected. He stood there, eyes down, lost in thought for a moment. -_I'd forgotten what that was like_.- Then his head snapped up. -_But reflections can wait_- "Thunderbolt!" Electabuzz responded instantly, charging up with a roar.

"You heard!" Alan shot back. Chip didn't need any further encouragement, charging it's own attack... or rather, defence, since by the time he was charged, Electabuzz's attack was already flying towards him; it got within half a metre before his reply almost seemed to back-hand it, knocking it back before the energy building up between them detonated with a loud bang. Since neither attack had done damage, no shock came from the bracelets.

"Whoa." Casey commented, awestruck at the display of power.

"Not bad, Alan." Wattson grinned. "Your Pokémon has quite a lot of power. Electabuzz, Strength!"

"Mega Punch!" Alan counter-commanded. A series of failed strikes commenced, as Electabuzz's speed allowed it to stay out of Chip's reach.

"Chip, stop." Alan said. "Let it come to you."

Chip stopped, seeming relaxed. Electabuzz hesitated for a moment, then shot toward Chip from behind, Strengthened punch going...

...through the place where Chip _had_ been.

"Agility." Wattson realised aloud as Electabuzz looked round just in time to see Chip bounce off the arena netting and drop towards him, the watching audience wincing as Chip delivered a spinning right hook to Electabuzz's jaw.

"Bet Wattson's glad that wasn't Mega Punch." Ryo commented, wondering if the Gym Leader was going to be able to remain standing after the latest shock. His Pokémon certainly looked dazed and unsteady.

"The safeties are on." Kyle replied.

Meanwhile, Chip followed up with a punch to Electabuzz's gut, _then_ used Mega Punch to deliver a powered uppercut to Electabuzz's jaw, a wail escaping Casey's throat as her favourite Pokémon sailed almost to the ceiling before falling and landing on it's back just inside the arena's netting, just in front of it's Trainer, who had collapsed to his knees.

"At least, I hope so." Kyle added.

"Had enough, Wattson?" Alan asked.

"You...you wish." Wattson staggered to his feet.

"Chip, Raigeki!" Alan commanded. "Finish it!"

"Why didn't he just say Thunderbolt?" Casey asked. She got her answer as Chip channelled his attack into a ball before throwing it, Ha-do-ken style, directly at Electabuzz, fainting it.

"You've made your point." Wattson gasped.

"Have I?" Alan asked. "You know where I was before coming here? _The Pokémon Center._"

"I'm not going to explain myself to you." Wattson growled. "You've already made up your mind. Go, Jolteon!"

"You're right Wattson." Alan agreed, recalling Chip. "I have made up my mind. In fact, my viewpoint is set in stone. Go, Rocky!" An Onix appeared, his body lightly studded with rubies and sapphires, which glowed prettily under the Gym lighting.

"Where'd he get _that_?" Josh asked.

"He traded a Dratini for him." Casey replied absently.

"Rock/Ground-type. Nice try." Wattson snorted. "But I'm still going to shock some sense into you."

"I don't think so." Alan grinned nastily. "In fact, your argument seems a little shaky."

With a rumbling chuckle, Rocky began a low powered Earthquake; not to damage, but just strong enough to give Jolteon trouble keeping it's feet. Of course, Alan and Wattson weren't doing any better, their footing made more precarious by the continuous mild shocks they were getting, hindering their concentration.

"Sonic Boom!" Wattson called. Bouncing forward to try and stay upright, Jolteon fired from close range. Rocky winced at the impact, Alan's shocks increasing briefly to mark the impact.

Then it happened, the quake pitching Jolteon off his feet as he tried to land. Wattson sighed as the shocks stopped, then braced himself before Rocky's tail dug in and came up under Jolteon, tossing him into the air before hitting the electric-type into the netting, knocking him out.

Wattson roared with pain. "Manny, take it!"

The blue and yellow dog waiting at ringside jumped over the netting. Before Alan had a chance to recall Rocky, purple lightning smashed into the Onix, knocking him out.

Once Alan had finished screaming, he had chance to join everyone else in looking shocked (pun intended).

"That's... not possible." Tommy breathed.

"Ground-types are supposed to be immune to Electric attacks, right?" Josh asked.

"Yep." Ryo agreed. "The only times I've heard of an Onix getting electrocuted is when they've gotten wet first. A Thunderbolt shouldn't have been able to do that."

"I don't think that was Thunderbolt." Casey replied quietly. Kyle and Ryo gave her strange looks, but Josh and Tommy nodded agreement.

"Had enough?" Wattson asked, echoing Alan's earlier question as they recalled Jolteon and Rocky (respectively). "Because _this_ Manectric is my favourite out of all my Manectrics. And she's never lost a battle yet."

Alan's eyes met Wattson's and the Gym leader backed up a step, not used to seeing 12 year olds quite so pissed off.

"Why is Manectric sparking like that?" Kyle asked.

"I don't know." Ryo admitted, exchanging a glance with Casey, both with the same impossible theory. -_Hopefully impossible_- they both thought.

"Today's a good day." Alan commented, picking the Fast Ball from his belt. "Let's end this."

"With pleasure." Wattson grinned.

Alan chuckled humourlessly. "Wasn't talking to you." He threw the Fast Ball. "I choose you, Peter!" The watching audience around the Destined gasped as the Pikachar materialised.

"And I was beginning to think you didn't like me." Wattson said sardonically. "It's a rare treat to get to see such a unique hybrid. And even rarer to defeat one."

"There's a reason for that." Alan retorted, unable to suppress a grin.

"AGILITY!" both Trainers roared. Manny and Peter blurred as they shot for each other, an instant before Peter Quick Attacked into Manny at full speed, knocking the canine over. Manny rolled to her feet before returning the compliment with a point-blank Shock Wave, blasting Peter halfway across the arena.

"Bite!" Wattson commanded. Manny closed in on her prone opponent. Fortunately, Peter recovered just in time and dodged out of the way, Agility-ing into invisibility.

"Laser!" Alan commanded. Peter's eyes glowed and he fired twin beams from his eyes, missing Manny by inches as she followed his example.

The result was a scene similar to Noble's battle, both Pokémon moving too fast for even trainers eyes to keep up properly. The only times Peter could be seen was when he was firing his lasers. Manny was seen even less, only revealed on the occasions when Peter managed to hit a spot just in front of her, forcing her to change course.

"Why can't he hit her?" Kyle asked.

"Laser isn't a no-miss attack." Ryo replied. "It's effect is... oh."

"What?" Casey asked as Ryo smiled.

"I've just realised what he's doing."

Wattson was having similar thoughts as Kyle. He used his screen to look up 'Laser'... and went pale. "Manny, Thunderbolt NOW!"

Manny responded by charging up and releasing another bolt of purple lightning, aiming for where she thought Peter was going to be. As it turned out, she was almost correct, the edge of the attack clipping Peter and sending him sprawling with a squeal.

Wincing as the latest shock ran through his system, Alan's mind whirled. -_So I wasn't imagining..._- "Hey, Wattson! Since when was Thunderbolt purple?"

"Have you gone colour-blind, kid?" Wattson asked, irritated.

The Hoenn-Destined exchanged glances. "Purple." Casey said simply.

"Purple." Josh confirmed.

"You two are very weird." Kyle commented.

"Worse yet, you agree with each other." Ryo added. He was not making a joke. They all felt it. You didn't get to be a Digidestined AND a Pokémon Trainer without a certain sensitivity to impending doom.

"Peter, here!" Alan said. Peter ran over, noticeably slower (pun intended -ed) and stopped just on the inside of Alan's end of the arena, right in front of the Trainers box. "You ok?" Alan asked.

"Pika Pikachar!" Peter replied confidentially, despite obvious tiredness.

Alan looked across at Wattson's Pokémon, who was in a similar state. -_Got to finish this while she's still recovering_- "Alrighty then! Show 'Manny' what a real Thunderbolt looks like!"

"Laser increases Special Attack." Ryo explained to the others. "So with all of those missed shots, Peter must be maxed out."

"Fill the arena with lightning!" Alan commanded. Peter let fly, several bolts lancing through the air, all in the Manectrics general direction.

"Dodge it!" Wattson commanded desperately. Manny moved to do just that, heading for the centre of the arena, but with all her Agility used up, she wasn't able to adapt quickly enough when the stray bolts at the tail end of the attack actually curved round to greet her. The rest of the attack did the same, arcing round and pummelling the Manectric.

In the control booth, the operator just got away before the shock machine exploded from trying to deal with too many different shocks at the same time. Fortunately for Wattson, the safeties held out to the end.

"Lighningrod." Casey realised.

"Right." Ryo confirmed. "He turned Manectric's own ability against her."

Alan whistled as Manny got back up. -_Even at half damage, that __**had**__ to hurt_-

He then felt a sudden loss of weight on his wrists and ankles as the restraints fell off. There was an answering clatter as Wattson's did the same, along with those of everyone in the building who'd had them on.

"System must have blown." Wattson commented. "With no power, the restraints can't stay locked."

Alan winced at the defeat in the man's voice. "I'm sorry." he said. "But you had this coming. Peter, finish it!" There was a moments delay as Peter collected himself for one final attack, then the Hybrid Pokémon charged at Manny. "Flamethrower!"

Peter jumped high, above Manny, breathing a steady gout of flame, which struck the ground near the Manectric. She tried to get away, only for Peter to begin a series of ever decreasing circles, hemming her in, reminding Ryo of a Pokémon Ranger using a Capture Styler. As the flames reached her, Manny began to Howl...

Impact; the Flamethrower struck, consuming it's victim...

...as the Howl became deeper and louder than any Manectric should be able to achieve, the Flamethrower's power rejected in a violent explosion. Knocked out of his levitation trick, Peter was thrown back, using a last burst of flame to cushion his landing.

"It can't be." Kyle breathed, as the explosion swirled around Manny's position. Instinctively, everyone checked their Digivices, but they were all still inactive.

"Whatever's going on, it's not Digivolving." Ryo said.

"Well, that ain't a normal evolution either." Casey pointed out dryly. "For one thing, Manectric's the final form. It shouldn't have anything..."

She trailed off as she, Josh and Alan saw it. Purple smoke, drifting from the walls, the floor and flowing into the explosion.

Something inside the explosion beginning to glow with purple light, even as it's form seemed to grow and twist from the Pokémon it had been.

"Oh, this can't be good." Alan muttered as Tommy moved from the stands and joined his partner. "Peter, Return!" The exhausted Rodent Pokémon was pulled into his Fast Ball.

"What is this stuff?"

"I don't know." Tommy admitted. "But it feels like... it feels like pain."

"Sub-creatures." Josh muttered as the other HoennDestined joined Alan. "Gozer the Gozeria, Gozer the Destructor."

"Volga, Zildograth, the Traveller has come." Alan agreed. "Choose and perish."

"What do you mean, choose?" The Destined looked round as they were joined by Wattson (who _hadn't _seen the movie, but was still demonstrating a useful tendancy for getting his lines right -ed), "I don't understand." (...eh, close enough -ed).

"Choose." Alan repeated hollowly, completely ignoring the Gym Leader as the room started to shake. "Choose the form of the Destructor."

"Long as it's not the Marshmallow Man." Casey muttered. "And could you guys be any creepier?"

Before anyone could answer Casey's question, a piece of the ceiling crashed to the floor, missing her by an inch.

"It never rains..." Kyle quipped as they all looked at the ceiling, which was spider-webbing like breaking glass.

Tommy took a deep breath, then yelled at the top of his lungs. "THE BUILDING'S COMING DOWN. _EVERYONE OUT __**NOW**_!"

By and large, no further encouragement was needed for most of the Gym's occupants to make a run for it. There were only a few delays. One was a few of the workers hanging on long enough to retrieve the balls containing Gym's Pokémon (Dozens of Voltorb, Manectric's and Magneton, several Jolteon, Electrode, Electrike's and Magnemite, four Electabuzz, three Eevee, a Mareep and a Pichu). One of the workers got clobbered by falling masonry for his trouble and had to be carried out on the shoulders of one of the Electabuzz.

Meanwhile, as the other Destined and their Pokémon helped out others who hadn't been able to dodge in time, Ryo and Casey both decided to check the toilets.

~*~

In complete defiance of Universal Law, there had only been one person in the woman's bathroom when the building had begun to self-destruct, a schoolgirl who'd been in one of the cubicles (do you really need further detail? -ed) and was now too terrified to leave.

"Is anyone in here?" Casey asked as she entered, Meganium right behind her. Quickly picking up on the sound of crying, Meganium shot a vine under and over one of the doors, ripping it off it's hinges.

"Go away!" the girl screamed, toilet roll sailing over Casey's shoulder. Briefly distracted for a few moments at seeing a girl literally caught with her panties down, Casey gave herself a mental kick-up-the-butt, then started trying calm the other girl down.

~*~

"That everyone?"

As she and Meganium guided the girl out of the collapsing Gym, Casey looked round at Ryo's voice to see her fellow Destined, accompanied by Charmeleon, Sableye and three schoolboys who'd been in the men's toilets having a crafty smoke; they'd been accompanied by a fourth boy who'd had a reputation for being harder than concrete, and whose decapitated head now had a reality more closely resembling tomato paste. _Smooth _tomato paste.

"Yeah." Casey risked a glance back at where the arena had been. "What happened to Manectric?"

"I don't know." Ryo said. "I think it's still there."

An ominous, very 'this-is-about-to-be-final' rumble started. "Well, we need to get out of _here_!" Casey declared. The schoolgirl squealed as Meganium wrapped her vines around both girls and lifted them off the floor. Sableye grabbed Charmeleon and Ryo (in that order) by the scruffs of their necks and both Pokémon left with all possible speed, Sableye making better time because he could phase himself and his cargo through the same rocks that Meganium had to mover over, around and out-of-the-way of.

As they joined the crowd outside, they saw Kendrix flying out of a window on one of the higher floors, carrying several people, both psychically and on her back.

"That everyone?" Kyle asked.

"One didn't make it." Ryo replied sadly.

~Three people upstairs didn't either.~ Kendrix said in the same tone. "And..."

She was interrupted as the Gym finally gave into pressure and collapsed, triggering a groan from nearly everyone present.

"Insurance is gonna LOVE that." Alan commented, then sagged. Casey and Josh quickly grabbed him before he fell.

"You smell like barbecued dog hair." Casey grimaced.

"She meant me." Alan assured Josh.

"Wiseass." Josh replied with a grin, then frowned. "You should get medical attention."

Alan's head snapped up as a rumble echoed from the of the arena. "No time."

Then something erupted from the rubble, roaring in fury at having been buried. Despite the darker colours, the Destined recognised it instantly.

"Oh shit." Kyle breathed, echoing the group thought. Trembling, Casey brought up her Pokédex.

RAIKOU. A Legendary Pokémon that races across the land, Raikou embodies the speed and force of lightning, barking a roar like crashing thunder, which sends shockwaves through the air and shakes the ground like a terrible storm. People say that it was in one such storm that Raikou first arrived on Earth. Like the other two Legendary Dogs, Suicune and Entei, Raikou is mostly sighted in the Johto region.

"I think, on the whole, I'd have preferred the Marshmallow Man." Alan commented wryly.

MANECTRIC. Because Lightning falls in their vicinities, Manectric were thought to have been born from lightning...

They all turned, staring at the Pokédex in amazement. "Manectric?" Wattson asked hopefully.

"He's still in there." Ryo realised. "Inside...whatever that is."

"Angry." Tommy supplied softly.

Raikou roared, shaking the air and ground alike. Yellow lightning shot out of various points of it's body as it's host tried to fight it's way out, or so they hoped. Then Raikou charged up and threw another of the purple lightning attacks Manny had used before, only several times stronger...

...and aimed right at Wattson, in the middle of the crowd behind them, helping to tend to the wounded.

"Electrike!" Casey called, summoning her own Thunder Dog, in time with Kyle summoning Combusken, Josh choosing to bring Mawhile onto the field (along with the already out Poochyena)...

...and Alan's command of "Digi-Armour, Energise!"

Trying to plan a strategy for Charmeleon and Sableye, Ryo glanced over long enough to confirm to himself that Alan's Digivice was still inactive, which it was. This did not seem to concern Alan's D-Terminal, which obligingly spat out a green Digi-Egg.

"**Tommy, Armour-Digivolve to..."** the Charmander declared as he merged with the Digi-Egg. He quickly warped into a much taller green form. Josh recognised this form and was briefly scared silly.

"**Reflections on Loyalty, Mercuremon!"**

While Manny's attack had been sufficiently not-electric to rip through Rocky like a hot knife through butter, the attack WAS partly electrical in nature and Raikou's attack was automatically drawn to Electrike by Lightningrod. Before it could actually hit, Mercuremon stepped in front of the small Pokémon, absorbing the strike with his mirrors.

Alan cringed. Izzy had calculated that while Armour-Digivolving was possible in Hoenn, a fully charged Digi-Egg would only allow Tommy to say Digivolved for five minutes at most. Though the Digi-Egg of Loyalty had apparently got a full recharge from somewhere, absorbing that last hit had, judging from the D-Terminal, reduced Mercuremon's time available by about a minute.

It's first attack thus thwarted, Raikou charged, claws out and teeth bared, drawing screams from various parts of the crowd... and headed straight for it's former master.

"It's after Wattson!" Kyle realised out loud, just as Mawhile moved to intercept. Just before Raikou could pounce it looked down, allowing Mawhile to use Astonish at point-blank range. Incredibly, it worked, causing Raikou to turn tail and flee.

"Ok, _now_ I'm impressed." Casey remarked.

"GENEROUS REFLECTION!" Mercuremon called, invoking his strongest technique. A second Raikou emerged from the mirrors. The effect of Astonish was wearing off, a now _very_ pissed off Raikou turning to charge again when the Raikou Clone pounced on it, the two Legendary Dogs wrestling on the ground for supremacy.

"You know, they look just like each other." Casey remarked.

"She's right." Mercuremon agreed. "The Raikou we've been fighting looks just like my Shadow Clone."

"So maybe that's all it is." Ryo mused. "A Shadow Clone."

"Except with one big difference." Kyle countered. "Mercuremon's clone doesn't have a host."

"So how do we destroy it?" Casey asked. She was answered by a Flash attack, vaporising the Raikou Clone in an instant.

"Ah, crap." Mercuremon grimaced. Raikou (or Yami Raikou, as a couple of the Destined were starting to think of it) got up, shook itself off and fired another blast of lightning. Mercuremon easily grabbed this one as well.

"How often can he do that?" Ryo asked.

"Uh, twice." Alan replied. "After that one, I think he's got less than a minute in that form."

"Then we'd better make this count," Casey growled, noticing the familiar way Mercuremon's mirrors were starting to shine, "because we're only going to get one shot at this. Meganium!"

Meganium stepped up alongside Mercuremon, petals glowing.

"One shot, two barrels." Alan grinned. Yami Raikou chose this moment to attack.

"Solar Beam!" Casey commanded.

"OFFSET REFLECTOR!" Mercuremon called as both Pokémon (one honorary) let fly with twin beams of light, catching Yami Raikou just as it was bracing to pounce. It howled as it was bathed in the light, a small form dropping to the ground underneath.

"Manectric!" Wattson called. He was answered, however, by a roar from Yami Raikou, which shook off the last of the Solar Beams, the smoke that had originally formed it escaping from small holes in it's body, but still very much a threat.

"Persistent." Tommy noted, reverted back to his Charmander form, the Digi-Egg returning to Alan's D-Terminal even as it's owner finally collapsed. Yami Raikou charged, restarting his prior attack.

Before anyone could stop them, Charmeleon and Combusken shot forward, charging at Yami Raikou in turn. The two Pokémon raced past the Legendary Dog, twin Slash attacks raking across Yami Raikou's side.

Yami Raikou, for his part, ignored them completely. As the two Pokémon stopped and turned, he leapt into the air. At the peak of his jump, mid pounce, his eyes met those of his prey.

Then, a bright flash and a _very _loud bang caused everyone to avert their eyes and cover their ears as Yami Raikou ripped itself apart like a popping balloon. When Josh and Casey were able to look again, they watched the last of the purple smoke drift away on the breeze.

And as the smoke cleared, Alan stood victorious, somehow or another. As such, he was awarded the Dynamo Badge for success against the Gym Leader. Of course, Ryo had to take it for Alan, as he was out cold.

Ryo promised, "I'll give him the badge when he wakes up."

Wattson nodded back, and then looked toward his decimated Gym.

Kyle suggested, "Maybe we should leave now…"

There was little argument from everyone else, and so, carrying Alan on their shoulders, they left Mauville behind after one last trip to the Pokémon Center. Everyone wanted to leave this place before Alan got any more bright ideas about staying here.

Alan would not wake up for quite a long time after this battle, sleeping a full 16 hours or so before he awoke once again and was given his spoils of victory.

Narrator: With this, every member of the Hoenn-Destined has obtained 3 Gym Badges. But, more surprises lie ahead for them in the near future. Meanwhile, half a world away, another adventure was just beginning…

Second Half of Episode 33: "Giovanni's Escape"

Episode Written by Josh Johannesen

The Team Rocket organization had suffered from what some might call withdrawal since their undisputed leader, Giovanni, had been captured and subsequently convicted of crimes against the Pokémon of the world. His sentence was a simple one, life imprisonment in Celadon Maximum Security Prison.

Following his imprisonment, Team Rocket had been looking for some way to free their leader, but Celadon Prison was the most secure place in the entire Kanto region, making it a near impossibility to break anybody out.

As a result of this, Team Rocket activity had stagnated over the course of the last couple of months or so. The remaining Rocket members had taken up a secret base in the Sevii Island chain, far to the south of the Kanto region, to try and continue their boss's great work. Of course, so far the results had been less than stellar, as they had yet to pull a big heist or do anything even close to evil under the temporary rule of the remaining Rocket Administrators.

Two of these leaders met in a private office on this day, a day which would eventually go down in infamy…

Leila, a Rocket Administrator, sat at a desk across from another Rocket Administrator, Charlie.

"We should just give up on our search for a solution to break out the Boss." Leila said in a calm voice.

Charlie pounded his fist on the desk in frustration. "We can't forsake the Boss after all he's done for us. Without him, we wouldn't be anywhere near where we are now!"

Leila leaned over the desk, looking at Charlie. "Be that as it may, but the fact of the matter remains that we've tried a few times to break Giovanni from prison and every single time, we haven't even gotten past the front gate!"

Charlie looked down at the floor. "I know that's true, Leila… but we still need to do whatever we can as long as we can! You know as well as I do that the team hasn't been the same since his capture!"

Leila put her chin in her hand. "Only Black Rose has really kept the spirit of the original Team Rocket alive at all."

Charlie shot up from his chair and held his fist in the air. "This is the fault of those blasted Digidestined and their Digimon!"

Leila simply nodded. "I can't argue with you there, Charlie. But even still, there's little we can do about it at this point. Those Digidestined are too numerous and too powerful to be stopped…"

Charlie suddenly had an idea. "If we could get Giovanni out of prison, we could flee to Hoenn! There have been no sightings of Digimon in the Hoenn region…"

Leila lit up and finished Charlie's thought. "So those accursed Digidestined would be powerless there!"

Charlie continued, "And with no Digidestined to stop us, we could plot to take over the entire world!"

Leila finished, "And more importantly, get revenge on those pesky Digidestined!"

At that very moment, demonic laughter began to ring throughout the room. "Did I hear somebody say they needed help getting revenge on the Digidestined?"

Both Charlie and Leila looked around the room rapidly, trying to discover the source of the laughter. "Who are you and what do you want with us?!" Charlie yelled.

At that moment, a shadow began to coalesce in the room, forming a silhouette of the being which made the previous statement. "All I want is to help you accomplish your goal… in exchange for a minor favor."

Leila got a little angry. "We're members of the mighty Team Rocket! Why should we listen to a shadow like you?!"

The "shadow" just laughed maniacally for a few moments. "Because I represent your best chance of freeing your leader, Giovanni; my powers are so great that you mortals cannot begin to comprehend them!"

Leila only got angrier, and her voice showed her increased anger. "Who do you think you *mmph*" Charlie covered Leila's mouth before she stuck her foot in it.

Charlie smiled and laughed nervously. "Don't mind her. She's been a little testy lately." Then Charlie became a little more serious. "Tell me, shadow, what do you ask in exchange for your assistance in busting out Giovanni?"

The "shadow" smirked. "What I ask is a simple concession… passage to the continent of Hoenn, for I too have a beef with the Digidestined which needs to be reconciled."

Leila and Charlie looked at one another, then back to the "shadow". Charlie spoke to the creature. "We will need to speak with the Rocket council, but if you're enemies of the Digidestined, I'm sure the Council will have no problems allying with you for now."

The "shadow's" smirk turned into an evil smile. "Excellent. You won't be disappointed."

Leila still had her doubts. "Just who are you anyway?"

The shadow began to show his true form, colors filling in the strange shadow to reveal a powerful-looking creature with red wings, a blue tail, and what appeared to be several beaks on its shoulders and front. The creature smiled as he said, "Call me… Murmuxmon."

-15 Minutes Later, Rocket Meeting Hall-

Both Charlie and Leila were trying to convince the other Rocket leaders that trusting this Murmuxmon was in their best interest because realistically, he was asking so little for the services he was going to provide.

Charlie asked, "Ladies and gentlemen, is it really so much to ask to allow one more passenger on our exodus to Hoenn?"

Black Rose, one of the elite Team Rocket operatives from back when Giovanni was free, stood up. "So you're expecting us to believe that some powerful creature wants to bust our Boss out of prison in exchange for just a ticket to Hoenn?"

Charlie shook his head. "No. We don't even believe that this is all Murmuxmon wants, but whatever else he may ask would probably be in line with a partnership with our forces in the Hoenn region."

Black Rose looked to the other leaders, trying to get some answers to her silent questions. When the other members just nodded their heads at Black Rose, she sighed as she turned to Charlie and Leila. "Here's the deal. I'm putting you two in charge of the unit charged to break out the Boss from prison. You are to take enough copters to get your grunts out as well as Murmuxmon and Giovanni. As soon as you are clear, make your way toward the Hoenn region. Understand?"

Charlie and Leila looked wide-eyed at the mighty Black Rose, unsure as to why they were being charged with the mission to release Giovanni, but as they thought about it a little more, it had to be because the two of them were the first to contact their newest ally. Both Charlie and Leila bowed to the council and left.

A shadowy Rocket leader looked to Black Rose and asked, "Are you entirely sure you should be charging those two with this mission?"

Black Rose nodded and said, "I have the utmost confidence in them, especially because they will have a new ally to take with them." Then she leaned back in her chair and smirked. "Besides, they are fairly expendable, so it won't be a great loss if they should happen to fail in their bid to release Giovanni."

They returned to their office and looked directly at Murmuxmon who smirked as they came in. "I can tell what happened by the expression on your face. We're going to break your leader out of prison and then we'll travel to Hoenn…"

Charlie nodded. "That's right, Murmuxmon. And if all goes well, we'll be in Hoenn in a couple of days."

Murmuxmon laughed. "With me on your side, there's very little which can go wrong…"

A round of maniacal laughter is shared by the two Rocket Administrators and Murmuxmon…

-Next Day, Outskirts of Celadon City-

The Celadon Maximum Security Prison looms large on the outskirts of the second largest city in the Kanto region. The massive stone structure is surrounded by multiple electrified fences and guarded 24 hours a day by some of the best guards available. It is here that the most dangerous criminals in all of Kanto reside… after being caught by the police, that is. And it is also here that Team Rocket is going to make its stand.

At the outskirts of the plain surrounding the prison, Charlie, Leila, Murmuxmon and a team of 50 Grunts stood; Charlie wasn't so sure that the number of grunts they brought was appropriate. "Are you sure this is going to be enough, Murmuxmon?"

Murmuxmon laughed and then looked at Charlie. "Are you questioning my powers, Charlie?"

Charlie was taken aback by the question. "No, it's not that, it's just…"

Murmuxmon yelled, "Quiet!" And with that, he began to squeeze Charlie's mind, causing him to scream out in pain. Leila was quick to defend her comrade, however. "What do you think you're doing?!"

Murmuxmon smirked. "I'm merely removing doubts about my prowess from his mind, my dear."

Leila cringed in fear as her partner was having his mind literally torn apart. At the same time, she didn't want to be the next to face his wrath, so she remained quiet, as did the other grunts, which were now genuinely afraid of him.

Murmuxmon grinned evilly as he watched Charlie suffer. "Do you dare doubt me and my powers now?!"

Charlie quickly shook his head as best as he could. Upon doing so, Murmuxmon released his stranglehold on Charlie's mind and he collapsed to the ground.

Leila ran over to her fallen comrade. "Charlie, are you OK?" He didn't respond as he was out cold. Leila glared at Murmuxmon who simply laughed. "Relax, he'll be just fine." He then grew a little more solemn. "If any of the rest of you dare doubt my powers again, however, I make no such guarantees of your safety. So I would suggest the rest of you lay off!"

The other Rocket members gulped, and then gave Murmuxmon a salute, "Yes, sir!" Leila sweatdropped at the other Rockets succumbing so quickly to this newcomer; Murmuxmon nodded in approval. "Glad to see some people have some sense in this world."

Then, as if he were some sort of military general, he plotted their plan of attack. "I shall take the point because these puny human weapons are no match for me! The rest of you shall follow behind me and provide back-up support… except for Leila and Charlie who shall remain with me."

Leila looked quickly to the Digimon. "Are you sure about that?" Murmuxmon nodded his head quickly. "I've never been surer. You and your partner Charlie shall find your Boss so we can get out of there and on to the Hoenn region!"

Leila reluctantly nodded as Charlie began to come to. "What happened to me… I feel like my mind has been turned into some sort of mush…" Leila looked back to Charlie and said, "You're alive!" She had to resist the urge to hug him on the spot.

Murmuxmon looked back at the two of them and nodded. "Shall we get moving, people?" The grunts nodded quickly as Murmuxmon picked up Charlie and Leila and stuck them on either side of him. "Remember, you two are to find Giovanni so I can free him. I shall take care of any threats which come our way. Let's move." Murmuxmon explained.

About 5 minutes later, Murmuxmon and the Rockets arrived at the first gate of the prison. Murmuxmon used a very powerful attack on the gate. "Gehenna Flame!" The Demon Lord created a very hot and intense flame and used it to melt a hole in the gate.

At this point, the guards in the towers noticed a burning smell and set off the alarms while looking down to see about 50 Rocket Grunts and what they would later term as "the strangest creature they ever saw". At that moment, Murmuxmon turned to the tower nearest him and began to damage the guard's mind by using his other move, Necro Interrogation. Once the guard was down, Murmuxmon used Gehenna Flame once more on the second and final gate into the prison courtyard.

The guards inside the prison were panicking, knowing why Team Rocket was here, and trying to seal off the sector of the prison which contained their former boss's cell.

They wouldn't get that opportunity, however, as all of a sudden from the other side of the wall… "Gehenna Flame!" The attack shattered the stone wall after a matter of moments, sending a shower of bricks into the prison and knocking out several guards. What few guards remained, however, immediately opened fire on Murmuxmon and the other Rocket Grunts.

This was quickly stopped, however, when Murmuxmon announced, "Necro Interrogation!" and the guards dropped on the ground from pain in their heads.

This process continued for several more minutes with the occasional Team Rocket Grunt stunning a guard trying to sneak up behind the group.

Finally, however, they reach the cell of the mighty Giovanni and Charlie is the first to notice as he looks off to his left. "That's it. That's our boss!" Inside the cell, Giovanni stood up and smiled. "I knew that at some point you dimwits would come!"

Murmuxmon told Charlie to stand back as he was about to open the cell door. Charlie also urged Giovanni to get back. "Gehenna Flame!" Once again, the hot and intense flames of the attack melted the bars in front of Giovanni and he stepped out and regarded the newcomer.

Giovanni smirked. "He's a Digimon, isn't he?" Murmuxmon nodded. "Of course I am. I am Murmuxmon, and I heard you want to get revenge on the Digidestined!"

Giovanni then broke out into a huge smile which was uncharacteristic of him. "I think this is the start of a beautiful partnership, Murmuxmon. We'll discuss the details on the way out of here!"

Leila spoke up, "Oh, Boss, because of the heat that you'll undoubtedly experience if you stay here, we're going to move your operations to the Hoenn region where no Digimon have been spotted."

Giovanni's smile returned to a smirk. "So be it." After a moment's thought, he added, "Besides, we'll also get away from that accursed Lorelei and her stupid nephew Ryo…"

Of course, at the moment it was difficult for Giovanni to know that half of that statement was true. He would find out when they got to Hoenn, but for right now, it was time to bust out of prison.

As before, Murmuxmon took the point, being able to easily withstand a few gun blasts from the few remaining prison guards before he used Necro Interrogation to knock out the remaining guards. Murmuxmon didn't want to kill them today. He wanted them to fear him greatly. And one would certainly think a Digimon which knocked out an entire prison worth of guards would frighten the masses.

Once they got outside, a set of helicopters were waiting to take the lot of them away from this place. Giovanni smirked as he and Murmuxmon boarded the same helicopter so they could discuss the terms of their new… "Partnership"… The other grunts boarded other helicopters to accompany their boss to the Hoenn region.

Of course, someone else very important was about to find out about the escape of what some consider the most dangerous crime boss in the history of the Poke-World…

-Cinnabar Island-

In the house of Lorelei, a.k.a. Prima, Lorelei sat around the house, relaxing on a warm day, which was nothing new for Cinnabar Island. It was supposed to be a day like most others since Giovanni had been put away for good.

Soon, however, the phone rings. Lorelei sits up and answers it. "Hello?"

A panicked voice comes from the other end. "Miss… Miss Lorelei?"

Lorelei blinked from the panic evident in the man's voice from the other end. "Yes, this is her. What is wrong?"

The panicked voice stuttered from the other end once more. "M, m, m, m, m, m, miss Lorelei… I'm sorry… to have to inform you…" The voice stopped right there, leaving the Ice Mistress of the Elite Four of Kanto wondering what he was so sorry about. "Inform me about what?"

The panicked voice finished his previous statement. "To… have to inform you… that Giovanni has escaped prison…"

Lorelei looked on, stunned. Quickly, she regains her composure. "Don't worry about a thing. I'll make sure he returns to prison ASAP."

The guard is quick to speak up again. "I think that's… going to be hard… because Giovanni… said something… about heading to… the Hoenn continent."

Lorelei's face turned absolutely pale. She thought, ~That's where my nephew and his friends have headed. And if Giovanni finds out that Ryo is over there… things could get real ugly.~

The guard spoke up one more time. "There… is one more thing… you should know."

Lorelei meekly responded, "Yes?"

The guard said, "We're trying to figure out… who broke Giovanni out of prison."

Lorelei blinked in confusion. "What do you mean? It wasn't the remnants of Team Rocket?"

The guard responded, "Well… yes and no. There were quite a few members of Team Rocket there, but there was someone or something else which completely devastated the guards on duty and sent most of them to local hospitals. All we know right now is that he went with Giovanni to the Hoenn region."

Lorelei shook her head. "Great… fantastic…" After a moment's pause, she said, "Well, thanks for telling me."

The guard responded, "Not a problem. Take care…" and with that, he hung up. Lorelei shook her head and looked to the sky. "I have a real feeling that things are about to get a lot tougher for Ryo and his friends…" She then began to debate with herself whether or not to tell anyone else about what she knew right now.

After awhile, she comes to this decision. "I should keep this silent for now until we're truly aware of what's going on. No need to get the other Digidestined involved, especially considering that their Digimon will be pretty useless in the Hoenn region." Lorelei sighed before she laid back down on the couch, hoping and praying that Ryo and his friends would be able to survive Giovanni's return to prominence…

Narrator: There might be some of you wondering what happened to the catalyst of the Mauville Shakedown… if you're one of those people, you'll enjoy this mini-mini episode.

Episode 33 Bonus: "The Discussion"

Episode written by Trey Miller

After the first time you kill another human, it is wise to always speak with a psychologist or a counselor who determines the full effect of it on your psyche. The military, the police, even covert ops groups that do not report to anyone but a bureaucrat, do this. Any first year psych student knows this.

It's that important.

Dakarimon exhaled softly as he matched step with Trey. They had evaded all searches, even when they had blatantly walked through the front door of the Pokemon Center and then back out. Had it been any other time but now, Dakarimon and Trey would have both laughed at the lousy security.

It had taken them the better part of five hours to move around since the battle, mostly due to Trey wanting to go to the locations of both Team Aqua and Team Magma's attacks. Once there, the two had stood at the tree line in silence for a moment just staring before Trey had turned and began to walk away. Not one part of either staging grounds was left standing. For once, both he and Dakarimon were at a loss as to what exactly had happened.

But now, at close to seven hours past, the reality of the situation was beginning to hit Trey. Dakarimon could see it in his eyes, and his posture. But most importantly, he could feel his best friend's walls beginning to crumble.

Dakarimon knew that finding a place for Trey to talk things out was vital--in some ways, more so than finding shelter to rest for the last few hours before daybreak. The only problem was that Trey was as likely to want to discuss everything as he was in trying to make Trey talk. Mouthing a prayer to whatever was listening; he struck out, knocking Trey unconscious with a blow to two nerve clusters.

He grunted as he hoisted Trey and Trey's pack onto his back, and then without looking back, he took off into the woods.

---

Unlike what television and movies show, the rise from unconsciousness to consciousness is usually a slow and gradual process. Or at least that's what Trey had always seen and experienced. This time was no different; first the gradual feeling of gravity and physical position, then that feeling as if your body is there and running, but no commands are being issued to anything, and then the slow checklist to make certain all appendages are still attached and nothing is broken, bruised, or missing; lastly, the mental reloading of the last information before the black.

"I've got coffee ready whenever you feel like sitting up."

Ah, Dakarimon's voice. And his presence, calm, tinged with mild regret. Why was he laying here again? Oh, right. Mauville.

"I suppose this is your way of saying 'We need to talk,' eh?" He opened his eyes slowly, took the offered moist towel and wiped his face before slowly sitting up.

Dakarimon handed him the coffee which he gratefully took and sipped. "Considering that you were about to lapse back into that broody mood that lead us here in the first place, I'm certain you'll forgive me."

Trey snorted, "I'm surprised you didn't just knock me upside the skull." He drained the cup and handed it back before rolling off his sleeping roll and standing. He began his morning stretches.

"I wanted you able to think as soon as you woke, not nursing a headache." Dakarimon had the cup refilled. "Here's your second."

"Aah, thanks."

Dakarimon leaned back. "So, what's on your mind?"

"I don't think it's sunk in quite enou- ow!" Trey doubled over in pain.

"What's wrong?"

"Alan's kidney shot." Trey had sunk to his knees, one hand around the front of his stomach, the other pressed against his back. "I think he actually managed to damage it."

Dakarimon knelt beside him. "Once you get a handle on this, go check. You know what can happen." He pulled up the back of Trey's shirt and checked: no bruising or discoloration, which was a good sign.

Trey nodded. "Yeah, blood in urine, we haul tail to a hospital, and you leave me there. You can handle everything on your own if needed." He slowly climbed to his feet with Dakarimon's assistance and hobbled away toward the camp latrine.

Dakarimon shook his head and sat back down. "You do remember what lead to us being in this situation, right?"

Trey hollered back, "Touché, Dakari." A pause. "No, we're good. He just bruised them."

"That's good. Though that means we can't spar for a few days."

"I'm going to go stir crazy, aren't I?" Trey asked, slowly walking back over.

Dakarimon deadpanned, "However will we know the difference?"

"Heh, game and match, Dakari. Clothes?"

"Corner, next to the bag."

"Thanks."

Dakarimon sat quietly, waiting for Trey to get ready. When he had found their current hideaway, it had been with the mindset that they would be staying there for a few days. Things needed to be discussed, plans settled, and decisions made. With Trey's bruised kidneys keeping Trey from moving anywhere near his best, the decision to stay a few days was now pending several more to account for healing time. It also meant that he would have to locate several of Hoenn's medicinal plants, something he wasn't looking forward to.

Trey made his way back over and gingerly eased into a lounging position. "Getting back to what we had been attempting to talk about, I'm not certain what I did has sunk in, yet."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. See, from everything I understand, I should regret giving the command to take their lives. But I don't. I don't even feel guilty about their blood being on my hands."

Dakarimon nodded thoughtfully, "You know that we Digimon aren't impartial to destroying each other. Virus types have a particular affinity for destruction, but Data and Vaccine types are both capable of dealing widespread damage, including deletion. Do you know why that is?"

"Remind me."

"At the core of it all, we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, it's either them or us. We Vaccine types especially feel the need to have things skewed in their favor in terms of threats. The greater the risk for noncoms to be injured or killed, the more we're willing to pull out the guns labeled 'The Big Guns of Uber Boomage' and use them."

Trey nodded. "Yes, I remember the number of times you've taken things apart just to protect one thing or another."

Dakarimon nodded. "Here's the thing," he paused for a moment to gather his thoughts, "In Mauville, the threat was toward everyone in the city, not just us or to the Destined as a whole. I think I know you well enough to say that you wouldn't issue the kill command without there being a good reason. Plus everyone knows you're willing to take that next step to remove threats, now."

"So this is perfectly natural that I shouldn't feel bad?"

"Technically, what you did was freeze them solid. You didn't break the ice, you didn't do anything else. Theoretically, there was always a way to bring them back, so long as they weren't damaged." said Dakarimon. "Besides, during the battle, there were no other immediate deaths caused by any of us, other than Pokemon, that is. And Pokemon, like Digimon, realize that there are times when simply throwing attacks back and forth until someone is knocked out won't solve the problem. We're all animals, even humans."

Trey nodded slowly. "Defend those who can't, and if you have to bare your teeth and growl, make certain they know you mean business, eh?"

"Exactly."

"You realize we'll probably have this discussion again in a day or two when things have sunk in, right?" asked Trey.

Dakarimon nodded. "I'm hoping we do," he said. "You need to come to complete grips with what occurred, including whether you're willing to do it again when the time comes."

Trey nodded slowly. It was, as Dakari had said, highly likely he would be in a similar situation. Could he honestly admit that he would give the order again? There was a part in him that said that he couldn't, that it was a one time deal. But he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he could and would issue the same command should things degenerate to that point.

Dakarimon pointed to the sleeping roll. "Go lay back down and rest some more. We'll discuss our next steps after you wake up again."

"Sounds like a plan to me. Get some sleep, too." He crawled over to the bedroll and carefully slid onto it.

Dakari nodded, "Yeah, I think I will."

Trey closed his eyes and sighed. This reprieve would probably be the last one either of them would have until everything was said and done. Was he regretting anything? No, not really. Things were in motion already, and most were not good. It would take him being able to shoulder the burden of certain acts for any of them to get through them alive and in one piece. He wasn't alone, he knew.

He was just that one man who would do what was needed, no matter the cost.

Narrator: What will happen in the future? With Giovanni, Murmuxmon and Magnatar on a collision course with Hoenn, there is sure to be plenty of peril. But there will also be plenty of opportunity for these relatively untested Digidestined to prove their worth. Not just to Trey, but to themselves. How will they fare when the heat is on? No one knows for sure…

Next Time: The Digidestined finally leave Mauville behind for the greener pastures to the north of the city. Many other people have gotten that idea, including a family of trainers who make their home to the north of the once-great city. Will they be able to defeat this passionate family? And how will the Rockets react to the loss of their "assistant"? Find out next time on Digicross Advanced!


	4. RoD 4: A Family Affair

Narrator: Today, we find our heroes, joined by new friend Alan Wilkinson and his unique Pokemon, to the north of Mauville City, after dealing with the twisted plot of Team Aqua. But now they continue with a new resolve and another Gym Badge toward Fallarbor Town.

Digicross Advanced Episode 34: "A Family Affair"

Episode Written by Josh Johannesen

Clearly, even though the events of the Mauville Shakedown were several days old by now, the impact of it still affected every last one of the Digidestined, even if they didn't show it outwardly.

Ryo looked at Kyle with a concerned look on his face. "Are you sure you're going to be OK after dealing with all that back in Mauville City?"

Kyle looked at Ryo and grinned. "Yeah, I'll be fine." Ryo was trying to dig for information as to what happened to the Destined back there, but he still wasn't talking.

Josh and Casey all couldn't help but share a smile. Then Kyle turned to Alan and smiled again, "And thank you Alan, for coming for me."

Alan smiled a little bit. "Not a problem, Kyle, not at all."

But at that moment, Casey chose to remind them of one thing, speaking in a very angry tone, "Yeah… but who would have guessed that Trey, someone we thought was our ally, would do something like that to all of us?"

All four of them shivered over the thought. Josh added, "I didn't imagine Trey to be that ruthless." To himself, he added, ~Though… he did manage to do what none of us could: eliminate Magma and Aqua from Mauville.~

Ryo pointed out, "If he were truly our enemy, though, wouldn't he have just eliminated us right then and there? He only killed Magma and Aqua people, not any innocents…" There was definitely a point to be had, but Alan wasn't buying it, snorting loudly at Ryo's comments.

Even Kyle had to look down at the ground. "Despite the fact that what they did to me was wrong, I still don't think they deserved such a fate…"

Alan snorted again at Kyle's comments. Clearly, he didn't share the same opinion that they did about Trey's ironic punishment for the Team Aqua members who nearly took away Kyle's trainer's license for good. Not to mention the Team Magma members who nearly destroyed Mauville.

Off in a nearby bush, the Rockets look out at the "twerps", but they are clearly not in the mood to do anything to them. Jessie asked, "Where do you think Trey went?"

James replied, "I don't know Jess, but I'm worried about him. I mean, who knows what may happen out there in the big, wide world?"

Meowth added, "And if he gets caught by da police, he could go up da river without a paddle."

Jessie sighed, "Well, what about bugging the twerps? It would be strange if we weren't there to brighten up their lives…"

James and Meowth both sweatdropped at the way Jessie put things this time. James said, "I'm pretty sure they won't miss us too much if we take the day off to go find Trey."

Jessie nodded after a moment's thought and said, "Yeah, you're right. Let's find Trey and then come back and bug the twerps another day."

Both Meowth and James nodded and said, "Right!" as they left the bush heading back toward Mauville City.

Further up the road, the Digidestined had stopped abruptly in front of a sign in front of a house. The house was fairly quaint with a fence surrounding it and a large backyard with a garden in it. Of course, the backyard had another purpose, as they would find out rather soon…

Ryo read the sign, "All you trainers who think you're strong, come challenge us, the Winstrates. We shall show you the true meaning of power."

Ryo, Josh, Kyle, Alan and Casey all blinked at the sign, "How dare they call us weak?!" Casey yelled, clearly offended by this little sign of theirs.

Josh was equally annoyed. "Yeah, how do they know how strong or weak we are?"

Ryo sighed, "Look, why don't we just go challenge them and see if we're weak or strong?"

Kyle suddenly got psyched up again. "Yeah, I kind of want to get back into the swing of things after being behind bars." He rubs his wrists and ankles just to drive the point further into the ground.

Alan chose to simply nod and agree with what Ryo was saying.

Of course, Josh and Casey have absolutely no objections to this idea at all. They felt the need to prove their own power to the world, and right now "the world" was represented by the Winstrates.

So the five of them knocked on the door of the house and were greeted moments later by a balding man who smiled when he saw the faces of the group of eager trainers. "May I help you folks out?"

Casey got up in the man's face and yelled, "How dare you call us weak? You've never even seen us before!" She was visibly upset and had a bit of fire in her eyes.

The man smiled at her and said, "I didn't mean to get you upset, young lady, but if you want a chance to prove us wrong about you and your friends, I do have a bit of a proposition for you."

Casey got down and rejoined the others, still looking somewhat sour about the whole situation. After the man brushed himself off, he said, "But first, let me introduce myself. I am Victor Winstrate, a member of the powerful Winstrate family of trainers."

Casey wanted to say something, but Ryo got in front of her and cut her off. "I'm Ryo. This is Josh, Alan and Kyle and the loudmouth is Casey." Ryo said, pointing out each one of them as he introduced them.

Of course, the "loudmouth" comment earned Ryo a glare from Casey, but at this point, she had earned the nickname quite well.

Victor nodded and smiled at the five of them, "Now, back to my original point. We have a battling arena in our backyard and we're willing to let four of you take on the four of us. 1-on-1 each battle, the one who wins the most battles wins the whole thing." He smirked a little as he said, "Deal?"

None of them needed a second thought as they all nodded. "Yeah, we want to go ahead and prove ourselves on the field of battle!" Kyle said, speaking for everyone.

Victor nodded in approval. "Excellent!"

He clapped his hands twice and the rest of his family came out of the house. There were three other trainers to come out for a combined total of four trainers. The first was somebody about as old as Victor with brown hair and brown eyes. The person was also a woman. Victor smiled as he said, "This is my wife, Victoria." Victoria bowed in respect to the young trainers before heading around the house to the backyard.

Next comes out a young girl who looked like she might have been of school age. She had black hair and brown eyes. Victor smiled once more. "This is my daughter, Vivi." Vivi smiled gently as she was introduced to the trainers. Afterwards, she headed around the house as well.

Finally, an older woman came forth from the house. She had white hair, which didn't proceed to surprise anyone, as well as the seemingly requisite brown-colored eyes. "And finally, this is my mother, Vicky." Vicky simply nodded before heading around the house.

Victor adds in, "Oh, I guess I should mention that I also have a son named Vito, who's also a fairly talented trainer. He's out right now, but if he should come back, I'm sure he'd be willing to take on one of you."

It is at this point that Victor leads Kyle, Casey, Ryo, Josh and Alan around the house and into the backyard. The five of them are astonished for two reasons upon entering the backyard. The first is the fact that compared to the house itself, the backyard is quite large. Perhaps this was the way houses were built in the days of old. This, of course, doesn't even mention the fact that they grew their own fruits and vegetables to eat in this backyard.

The second reason for their pure astonishment was very simple. There was a battle arena carved out, literally, in the middle of their backyard. Apparently, this family either really liked to battle one another, or they got challengers like the five of them all the time, probably spurred on by the sign outside the house.

Victor then smiled as he said with pride apparent in his voice, "Welcome to the Winstrate Arena, where challengers take on the four of us on a great many occasions." He then began to look at the five Digidestined standing before him and said as simply as he could, "We're going to battle in a 4-on-4 situation… only not the same kind of 4-on-4 that you're used to."

Alan, Ryo, Josh, Kyle and Casey all tilted their heads in minor confusion. Only one of them had 4 Pokemon to begin with… at least in Hoenn at the time. The rest of them had three Pokemon with them at the time, so it would have seemed relatively difficult to complete Victor's request for a 4-on-4 battle.

Victoria decided to speak up upon seeing the confusion on the trainer's faces. "Don't worry, kids. It's not **that** kind of 4-on-4. Instead, what we're going to do is have 4 individual 1-on-1 battles between one of us Winstrates and one of you challengers. It does not matter to us who challenges who one little bit."

Vivi interjected, "We'll keep score of who wins each fight. It's a simple matter of knocking the opponent out before yours is knocked out. Whichever team gets to 3 wins first wins the challenge."

Everyone blinked, but then Ryo spoke up. "Ummm… excuse me for asking, but what happens if both teams win two battles each?"

Vicky stepped forward to explain. "If we should split the first 4 matches, then the 2 winners from each side will compete in one final 2-on-2 bout. The catch is that you have to use the same Pokemon you used in your initial bout, as do we, so it's a matter of endurance and adaptation if we should get that far."

Victor nodded. "So what do you kids think? Do you accept our little challenge?"

Victor's question did not need anything but a shared look between Ryo, Casey, Josh, Kyle and Alan to determine what their answer was. Casey spoke up for everyone this time. "We'll do it!"

Victor nodded as the entire Winstrate family broke out in grins of anticipation. "Excellent! Let's get ready to battle, then!"

-5 Minutes Later-

Victor was the first one to step onto the left side of the arena with a smile on his face. "I shall be your first opponent, kids. Which one of you shall step up and challenge me?"

The five Digidestined huddled together for a few moments. "Who do you think should be first up to bat?" Ryo asked everyone else.

Josh commented, "Well, we should probably save the strongest trainer here for last." He smiled briefly as he said, "And we all know that's you, Ryo."

Ryo smiled for a moment upon hearing the comment. Alan frowned at that statement by Josh. "Hey, I'm much stronger than that slacker."

Ryo glared right at Alan, but after that it was back to being all serious again. But, from out of the blue, Kyle said, "Let me go first."

Casey blinked from the sudden urge to volunteer from Kyle. "Why should you go first?" she asked skeptically.

Kyle answered in all due candor, "Because as I said earlier, I've been anxious to get back into battle since we've left Mauville City."

Of course, nobody could see any reason or point in arguing with Kyle, and so it was that a few moments later, Kyle stepped forth from the huddle and said, "I shall be your opponent, Victor," with a smile of competitiveness on his face.

Victor nodded as Vicky took the referee's spot near the middle of the arena. "This shall be a 1-on-1 match with no time limit. Good luck to both of you gentlemen." Kyle smiled at the sentiment. Vicky got serious as the raised her arm into the air. "And… begin!"

Kyle pulls out a Poke Ball. "Go, Toaster!" The fairly tall, lean and muscular Combusken came forth onto the field.

Victor smiled when he saw the Pokemon come forth. "That's a pretty well-raised Pokemon you've got there, son."

Kyle smiled and nodded. "Thank you."

Victor then got a serious look on his face. "But don't take that to mean I'm gonna go easy on ya! Go, Zigzagoon!" Victor tossed out a Poke Ball and out came a small raccoon-like creature.

Of course, the unassuming appearance of Victor's chosen Pokemon almost caused Josh and Casey to break out into laughter, not really believing Kyle's good fortune. Combusken was a Fighting-type, excellent against Normal-types. Ryo yelled out, "Just do your best, Kyle. Don't let him fool ya, Kyle!"

Kyle smiled and nodded before looking back at Victor and Zigzagoon. "If you think you're going to beat me with that Zigzagoon, you better think again, Victor!" he yelled confidently.

Victor smirked back. "Is that so, Kyle? I think it would serve you well not to underestimate your opponents so vastly." His smirk turned into an outright smile as he announced, "Zigzagoon, hit Kyle's Pokemon with Surf now!"

Ryo, Josh and Casey all put on looks of absolute surprise as Zigzagoon launches a massive wave of water from out of nowhere directly at Combusken. Alan simply smiled and observed, "Pokemon are full of surprises…"

Kyle is a little surprised himself, and rightfully so. He immediately yells, "Toaster, try to jump over the wave and counter with Double Kick!"

Toaster nods and tries to jump the wave. Victor watches from the sidelines with great interest. Unfortunately for Toaster, her jumping abilities aren't quite enough to overcome the amplitude of the wave and so she ends up taking some damage… but only from the very top of the wave and not the entire wave. As a result, Combusken lands on the ground ready for more.

Victor smiled at the skill Kyle and Toaster were showing, "Excellent, Kyle! You nearly found a way to turn my own attack against me. That shows true competence."

Kyle kept on his game face, wanting to betray nothing of his next plan. Victor, however, was the next to move. "Zigzagoon, it's time to dig underground!" Victoria, Vicky and Vivi all smiled as they watched Zigzagoon dig underground very quickly.

Kyle then yelled out, "Toaster, you need to concentrate now. Listen for Zigzagoon underground…" Toaster quickly nods her head and closes her eyes and begins concentrating on the sounds around her.

It does not take more than a few seconds for Toaster to pick up something and suddenly leap from the ground before coming back down and impacting the ground in a different location with Double Kick.

Victor looks downright confused by the attack, but its purpose is made perfectly clear several moments later as Combusken dug into the ground and pulled out an unconscious Zigzagoon, much to Victor's surprise.

Kyle smiled. "When Zigzagoon went underground, I knew that if I could have Toaster impact the ground in just the right place, I would cause Zigzagoon to lose consciousness due to falling chunks of ground."

Vicky announced, "Zigzagoon is unable to battle. The winner of this battle is Kyle Evanick!"

Kyle gave a thumbs-up to Combusken and she did the same, both respecting the other quite deeply.

Victor kneeled next to Zigzagoon when Combusken tossed it in his direction. "You put up a great effort, Zigzagoon." He pulls out Zigzagoon's Poke Ball and says, "You deserve a nice rest," before recalling it into the Poke Ball.

Victor then looked up at Kyle and couldn't help but crack a smile. "Well done. You sure did prove yourself to me!" Kyle smiled back at Victor's compliment.

-5 Minutes Later-

Victoria Winstrate was the next to step into the arena. "Well, which one of you would like to take ME on?" She exuded an aura of confidence much like her husband had, but it was also tinged with the determination to defend her family name following her husband's loss.

On the sidelines, Casey, Ryo and Josh argued about who would participate in the next bout. Casey said, "I've got far more experience than Joshy does. I should go next."

This caused Josh to yell, "Quit calling me Joshy!" Casey laughed at the demand, telling Josh, "I'm going to call you whatever I darn well feel like calling you."

Josh growled at Casey as Ryo, Kyle and Alan sighed. Josh then retorted her earlier comment by saying, "I would be able to counteract better because I have a wider variety of Pokemon."

Casey glared at Josh, "So what? The only Pokemon you have really worth mentioning is Blade… or did you intend to bring out your Beldum?"

Josh glared at Casey next. "I was planning on bringing out the most appropriate Pokemon for the situation. Why can't you figure that out?"

Ryo then decided to interject and end this argument, "Well, I do think Casey has a point. She may not have as many Pokemon as you do, Josh, but she knows her Pokemon's limits a lot better than you do."

Josh glared for a moment at Ryo, but then he sighed. "I guess then I'm going in the next round, right buddy?"

Ryo nodded. "Indeed. You'll get your chance, don't worry about that."

Casey grinned, "Thanks a lot, Ryo."

She then stepped into the trainer's box… after planting a flag for the Electabuzz baseball team behind her, of course. Casey smiled and said rather confidently, "I'll take you on, for the pride of the Electabuzz!" Ryo, Kyle and Josh sweatdrop at this remark; Alan simply shakes his head.

Victoria smiled, "And I'm taking you on for the pride of the Winstrate family! I can't lose!" both Casey's and Victoria's eyes burn with passion as they pull out their Poke Balls.

Casey yells, "Meganium, you're up to bat!" as her most powerful Pokemon, the yellow headband wearing Meganium, came forth onto the field.

Victoria yelled, "Roselia, go!" A small green Pokemon with blue and red colored roses on the ends of her arms came out.

Of course, Casey blinked and smiled. "That's the same Pokemon that gave Caryl such fits at Slateport Conference. This should be a piece of cake!"

Victoria grinned, "We shall see, young lady." She then looked at Roselia with a fire in her eyes. "We can't afford to lose this battle, Roselia. You have to pull through." Roselia looked back at her trainer and nodded, "Roselia."

Before Casey could figure out what was going on, Victoria yelled, "Roselia, unleash your Poison Sting on Meganium!" Within moments, both of Roselia's flowers shot out a stream of white stingers aimed right at Meganium.

Casey, however, was ready for it. "Meganium, use Vine Whip and get those stingers out of the way!" Meganium nodded and the two Vine Whips came out of Meganium's neck and slapped the Poison Sting attack down to the ground, effectively ending it.

Of course, over the course of the next couple of minutes, Victoria's Roselia and Casey's Meganium went at it, with no clear advantage going to one side or the other.

Finally, Casey got sick of this stalemate and took a chance on a move which would win her the battle if she made it, and would put Meganium in a tough spot if she missed. Casey cried, "Meganium, time to use your Body Slam!"

Meganium blinks for a moment, but then nods with a determined look on her face as she rears back and launches into mid-air. Victoria, of course, is surprised by the move and yells out, "Roselia, get out of the way now!" Roselia proceeds to try and get out of the way, but in the end, gravity wins out and Meganium lands on Roselia with a loud thud.

Victoria runs up to Meganium and kneels down before yelling, "Roselia! Roselia! Are you all right?"

Her answer came moments later in the form of Roselia's head popping out from underneath Meganium with swirling eyes. Vicky sighs and announces, "Roselia is unable to battle. Casey is the winner."

Upon hearing this, Casey leaps up in the air and runs over to hug Meganium's neck. "We did it! We won!" Meganium cried, "Meganium!" quite happily as she got up off of Roselia. Victoria knelt next to Roselia and while she didn't look the least bit pleased with the result, she does eventually recall Roselia into her Poke Ball, saying, "You did your best, Roselia. That's all that counts."

Victoria then stood up and, without saying a single word to Casey, marched off the field of battle. Of course, Casey and Ryo could easily see the bruised pride of Victoria following her loss. Ryo called out to Victoria, "Hey, don't feel so bad, Victoria. You said it yourself to your Pokemon. You tried your best, and that's all that matters."

Victoria looked at Ryo, looking very down-trodden for a moment before she looks at Ryo and nods. "You're absolutely right… I let my pride get in my way…" Victoria still looked like she was liable to cry right there on the spot, but thankfully, she didn't, being able to recover to the point where she could go back and sit on the sidelines with pride.

Alan looked at Ryo and said with a snort, "Well, at least you know how to cheer people up, Ryo…"

Ryo took this as what it was, a back-handed compliment. He smiles weakly at Alan as they prepared to begin the third round.

-10 Minutes Later-

Vivi, the daughter of Victor and Victoria, was the next to step up into the ring. "All right, which one of you is facing me in battle?"

This time, however, there was absolutely no need for discussion on the sidelines, as they knew exactly what needed to be done. Josh stepped forward into the arena, looking as determined as ever. "I shall be your opponent, Vivi… and don't think I'm going to take it easy on ya just because you're younger than me."

Vivi flashed a fairly evil-looking grin. "Oh, I would be sorely disappointed if you went easy on me just because of my age. I expect you to go all out against me, as I'll be doing the same against you!"

Josh nodded. "Fine, you asked for it…" He then flashed a grin to Vivi, "But don't come crying to me when you lose!" Josh pulled out his Poke Ball as did Vivi, both ready to toss out their Pokemon at the same time.

In fact, they did toss out their Pokemon at the same time… "Poke Ball, go!" they both yelled at the exact same time as their Poke Balls went flying into the arena to reveal… Blade, Josh's Grovyle, the lean, slender green Grass-type Pokemon on Josh's side and Marill, a water-type mouse with a ball tail, on Vivi's side.

On the sidelines, Kyle was immediately thinking it was déjà vu all over again… He yells out, "Josh, don't let the type advantage fool you into letting your guard down!" Josh turned to Kyle and nodded. "Don't worry, I won't!"

While Josh talked with Kyle, Vivi was in the middle of beginning the first round of combat… "You might want to pay more attention to the battle, or else you're going to get run over! Marill, Rollout!" Marill responded by jumping onto its side and beginning to roll toward Blade.

Of course, Josh turned his attention back to the battle when he heard Vivi say those words, but he had a plan in mind… "Blade, jump up into the air and land on Marill!"

Vivi blinked on her side of the arena, wondering what Josh was up to… her answer would come shortly when Grovyle actually managed a three-point landing on top of Marill. Grovyle looked like a person riding a sideways barrel or a log, or at least someone who belongs in the circus.

Josh smirked as he yelled, "Blade, run for the tree now!" Grovyle nodded and began changing directions, eventually getting into a position to ram into the tree. Only now did it become obvious to Vivi what exactly was going on.

Vivi yelled at Marill, "Marill, try and get Grovyle off you and get up now!" It was far past too late, however, as moments later, Grovyle leapt off of Marill, the extra oomph from his feet sending the tiny mouse flying into the tree. To add insult to injury, several Pecha Berries fell from the tree after impact… right onto Marill's head. These extra impacts to the water mouse Pokemon was enough to cause it to faint on the spot.

Vicky did not look very happy on the sidelines as she sighed. "Marill is unable to battle… the winner is Josh and Grovyle!" Josh pumped his fist in victory and ran over to Grovyle. "That was awesome! Way to go!" Grovyle smiled as Josh recalled him into the Poke Ball.

Vivi came over to Marill with tears actually welled in her eyes. "Marill… are you going to be all right?" The only response that came out was a weak, "Marill…" Vivi recalled Marill into its Poke Ball and turned to Josh, her face showing both anger and anguish. "That was a low blow."

Josh shrugged his shoulders. "Far as I can tell, I was taking advantage of a situation." Josh then held out his hand and said, "But you did put up a good fight." Vivi slapped Josh's hand away and ran over to the sideline, crying all the way. Victor and Victoria try desperately to comfort her about her loss, but don't even really succeed at that too well.

When Josh returned to the sideline on his side, he was promptly slapped by Casey, "Now, why did you have to go and make her cry, Joshy?!" Josh just glared at Casey and didn't say anything further.

Alan, however, looked at Casey and said rather simply, "If Vivi was going to leave herself open to a unique tactic, then Josh had no choice but to take advantage of it or be left behind."

Josh smiled at Alan and said, "Thanks for understanding."

Alan shrugged it off and said, "I've been at this for much longer than you or Kyle, Josh. I know what's going on most of the time."

Vicky, however, finally came off the side of the arena and yelled out, "Finally, it's my turn, but there are two of you whippersnappers left…"

Ryo and Alan turned to one another and looked at each other without saying a word to one another. It would take about a minute, but Alan lightly smiled and said, "I want to see if you've improved any in friendly battles, you slacker…"

This lit a fire underneath Ryo, so to speak and he stepped into the arena. "I'll take you on, Vicky! I expect you to go all-out and hold nothing back!"

Vicky nodded and said, "I expect the same from you, especially since you made my granddaughter cry…" Casey glared at Josh again, and he glared back.

Ryo shook his head in general embarrassment as he pulled out his Poke Ball. "Go, Charmeleon!" Within moments, Ryo's strongest Pokemon is out on the field… and he stretches. "It sure feels good to be out of the Poke Ball again."

Ryo lightly sweatdropped as Vicky looked on in surprise. (Editor's Note: Three guesses as to why and the first two don't count…) The surprise, however, soon wears off and Vicky pulls out her Poke Ball. "How ironic of you to choose a Fire-type, for you see…" Vicky tosses out her Poke Ball onto the field and from it comes a strange looking 4-legged Pokemon with what looked to be a bunch of "vents" in its shell. Ryo blinks and pulls out his Pokedex. "I wonder what kind of Pokemon this is…"

"Torkoal, the Volcano Pokemon. This Pokemon gathers heat from its normally hot environment. It normally releases this heat in the form of steam and ash released from the holes on its body."

Charmeleon smiled at the description Ryo's Pokedex spat out. "Good, at least this battle will be challenging."

Ryo sweatdropped, "I wouldn't suggest looking at this as a shoo-in."

Charmeleon shook his head rapidly. "Don't worry, I'm not, Ryo. I'm just making an observation, that's all." Ryo shook his head and concentrated on the battle at hand.

Vicky yelled out the first command, "Torkoal, try to stay away from Charmeleon. Wear him down!" Torkoal looked at its trainer, and then sighed and nodded, not being too thrilled about being forced onto the defensive from the outset of the battle.

Of course, Charmeleon wasn't about to take this lying down… or standing up, for that matter. "So, you want to go on the defensive, eh? I'll do something about that…" Charmeleon charged into the fray, while Ryo yelled out, "Hang on a minute!"

Charmeleon wasn't listening, however, as he ran in and launched a Slash attack at Torkoal. This was what Vicky was counting on. "Torkoal, jump up and use Body Slam on Charmeleon!" Torkoal exhibited uncharacteristic speed and jumped up to avoid Charmeleon's slashing attack.

Ryo gasped in surprise, experiencing some of his own déjà vu, as he was reminded of Casey's tactics against Roselia. Out of instinct, Ryo yelled the same thing Victoria yelled out during her battle with Casey, "Charmeleon, get out of the way quickly!"

Unlike the last time this situation happened, Charmeleon was swift enough to beat gravity to the punch and Torkoal landed on the ground instead of on Charmeleon. Ryo breathes a sigh of relief and Vicky snaps her fingers in minor frustration.

Charmeleon, out of primal instinct, yells, "Take this!" before launching a massive Flamethrower right in Torkoal's face. Of course, this is the worst thing Charmeleon can do, as Torkoal takes all the flames Charmeleon throws at it, and absorbs them within its "shell".

Ryo palms his face at the blown attack by Charmeleon while Vicky smiles from ear to ear. Vicky yells out, "Now, Torkoal, let's show this Pokemon what a **real **Fire attack looks like… use Overheat!!"

Of course, since Ryo had never heard of this attack before, he didn't know what to expect. However, his answer would come in the form of Torkoal charging up a massive amount of Fire energy in its mouth for a few moments, then firing off an absolutely enormous blast of Fire directly at Charmeleon. The blast is far too large and far too quick to dodge at all effectively, and so he soon gets blanketed in the most intense flames he has ever felt… at least from a Pokemon.

Ryo suddenly fears for Charmeleon's safety and yells, "Charmeleon!!!" in a very loud voice. He hears no response from Charmeleon and Ryo immediately fears the worst. Within moments, the Overheat attack ends and Charmeleon is seen on one knee with his body singed quite nicely from the attack.

Vicky laughs from her side of the arena when she sees the bad shape Charmeleon is in now. "How does it feel? Now you know what my granddaughter went through when Grovyle knocked out Marill!"

Ryo gritted his teeth and yelled, "Charmeleon, get up! You have to keep fighting!" Charmeleon was clearly in pain from the attack, but his stubbornness kicked in at that moment and Charmeleon struggled to his feet. "Don't… worry… Ryo… I don't… intend… to give up yet…"

Vicky clapped her hands on the sidelines. "Impressive. Very few Pokemon have ever gotten back up after Torkoal's Overheat." Ryo frowned at the fake praise being laid upon him. Vicky then became serious once more and yelled, "Torkoal, finish off Charmeleon with Body Slam now!"

Ryo almost hit the panic button when Torkoal leapt into the air, but Charmeleon knew exactly what he needed to do. He somehow manages to move his aching body quickly out of the way of Torkoal's Body Slam once again so that once again, Torkoal lands on the ground instead of on him.

Of course, Charmeleon learned his lesson from before and charged at Torkoal, claws extended. "Have a taste of my Slash attack!" Vicky was ready for this too, however, and orders, "Torkoal, give Charmeleon another taste of Overheat!"

Torkoal nods and quickly charges up the necessary Fire energy, and then he fires it at Charmeleon. Now, the first thing one would notice is that Overheat's attack looked far, far less impressive than it did the first time. The second thing is that Charmeleon managed to leap over Overheat and landed on top of Torkoal and slashed like there was no tomorrow.

In a panic, Vicky tried to get Torkoal to release some heat through its "vents" to knock Charmeleon off its back. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Torkoal's heat had already been exhausted in the two Overheat attacks and as a result, it is unable to knock off Charmeleon as he continued slashing, grunting with each Slash.

After about 10 slashes, Torkoal fell down onto the ground once more, but this time, its eyes were swirling, as if it had been knocked out. Vicky gasped, "I… I don't believe this…"

The rest of the family couldn't believe it either, but the fact of the matter was that Vicky had actually lost. Victor made the standard announcement with a massive sigh and obvious look of disappointment on his face. "Torkoal is unable to battle… Charmeleon wins…"

Ryo smiled as his partner stumbled back over to him. "Way to go, Charmeleon!" Charmeleon managed a weak smile and coughed up a little soot from the battle. "Was there… ever any… doubt?"

Ryo smiled and laughed. "You did well. Now it's time for a nice rest. Return!" Ryo recalls Charmeleon into his Poke Ball and turns to Vicky. "What a fantastic fight that was."

Vicky nodded. "Indeed it was, child. You and your friends are quite remarkable as Trainers."

Casey, Josh and Kyle all nodded and smiled as well. Ryo spoke up for everyone, "Thanks a lot. You and your family aren't so bad yourselves." The Winstrates, even the upset Vivi, manage weak smiles at Ryo's quite genuine comment.

Vicky says something interesting… "You people might want to think about heading to the nearby Trainer Hill and testing your skills there."

Casey perked up and yelled, "All right! Let's go!"

-5 Minutes Later-

Ryo, Josh, Casey and Kyle are seen waving good-bye to the Winstrates as they head down the road toward Trainer Hill.

Narrator: "And so, thanks to some very clever battle tactics, our heroes prove themselves to be worthy trainers in the eyes of the Winstrate family. But, who's to say if they will be able to continue proving themselves to the challenges ahead? And wait, where's Team Rocket?"

-Nearby Bush-

Jessie popped her head out of the bush and looked around quickly. Her face lights up when she sees the Destined not too far ahead of them. Jessie pulls her head back in and says, "Good, we haven't lost them."

James scratches his head and looks slightly confused. "I don't get it, Jess. I thought we were going to go looking for Trey and Dakarimon."

Jessie stared at James and asked, "How did that turn out exactly, hmmm?"

Meowth sighed and said, "Not very well at all. Dat kid's harder to find than a Larvitar or a Bagon."

Jessie nodded, "Exactly. We originally found Trey and Dakarimon hanging with the twerps, right?"

Both James and Meowth nodded, but their blank expressions plainly said they still had no idea where Jessie was going with this.

Jessie sighed and said, "Since Trey was with the twerps before, if he ever wanted to come out of hiding, the first place he would likely do it was with the twerps, so if we're here doing our thing until he reveals himself, we'll be able to find Trey and Dakarimon when they want to be found."

It takes a few more moments, but James and Meowth's faces light up. "Ohhhhh…"

Jessie then palms her face and says, "I'm surrounded by idiots…"

Next Episode: The challenge of Trainer Hill awaits the Digidestined. Will they be able to crest the hill? Will Team Rocket get back on their feet and find some way to trap the Destined? And where has Trey and Dakarimon gone? The answers to at least some of these questions next time on Digicross Advanced!


	5. RoD 5: Over the Hill

Narrator: Today, we find our heroes outside the strange Trainer Hill, a tower built partly into a hill which is rumored to be home to some of the toughest battles in the Hoenn region. But will they be able to conquer the tower? Find out today on Digicross Advanced!

Digicross Advanced Episode 35: "Over the Hill"

Episode Written by Josh Johannesen

Author's Note: Certain ideas on today's episode came from a number of sources. Special thanks go out to Ninetalesuk, and certain members of the #sphere_tamers IRC channel, including Arcomage, for these ideas on today's episode.

Ryo, Josh, Alan, Casey and Kyle stand before Trainer Hill and for a few moments stare upwards toward the top of the tower. The building is not a particularly large one, only standing a total of 5 floors above the hill itself. However, this was the tallest building in the central region of Hoenn, and a decent contrast to nearby Mount Chimney.

Josh observed, "So this is the place where Vicky told us to visit…"

Ryo nodded, "Indeed it is, Josh."

Kyle looked around the tower to see if there were any obvious traps, likely set by Team Rocket. There weren't, of course… at least not yet, so for now, the Destined make their way inside Trainer Hill.

Of course, when the five of them entered Trainer Hill, who should appear from a conveniently placed nearby bush than Jessie, James and Meowth… Jessie frowned and observed, "It's almost as if those twerps are expecting us to do something…"

James corrected Jessie, "You mean Kyle is expecting us to do something, while the rest of them seem relatively clueless to our presence."

Meowth smacked James upside the head, "Youse really tink da other twerps ain't seeing us coming?"

Jessie nodded her head and said, "Well, I suppose we shouldn't disappoint them…"

James and Meowth blinked. "But if dey see us comin…"

Jessie nodded, "We'll be able to test whether or not we've really improved at all since Trey's gotten here, like he said he was doing all the way back at Mauville City."

-Trainer Hill, Ground Floor-

When Alan, Kyle, Casey, Ryo and Josh entered the cave into Trainer Hill, they expected to see a more… primal setting, so to speak. They certainly were not expecting a tile floor with a built-in Pokemon Center, Pokemon Mart and the entrance into the tower in front of them. Needless to say, the four of them have looks of minor surprise painted on their faces.

Kyle is the quickest to recover among the four of them and walks up to the center of the room, in between two counters and encounters a young lady standing at the counter to the right near the entrance to the tower.

The young lady quickly stops Kyle and says, "Hang on a minute, sir… only the toughest trainers can enter the tower, mostly because the tower is home exclusively to two-on-two Battles."

Of course, this gets Kyle's attention mostly because he's the only person who has been truly interested in two-on-two battles since all of them got into Hoenn.

Josh, Ryo, Alan and Casey look at one another, trying to gauge the general interest the lot of them had about going into Trainer Hill, knowing what they would face inside.

Kyle smiled and said, "I'm going in there, no matter what! I want the chance to be able to experience two-on-two battles, especially because I know I'll be facing such things later on!"

Casey nodded and said, "You mean **we're** going in there, Kyle!" To further drive her point into the ground, Casey ran over and hugged Kyle, causing him to sweatdrop. "Isn't that right?"

Kyle stammered, "I… I…"

Casey smiled, "Of course we are!" She turned to the lady at the counter. "We shall both be going up into the tower, please." The lady sweatdropped before nodding and typing in information into her computer.

"I wonder if Kyle looks anything like Kari did when Davis was after her…" Alan whispered to himself, bemused; Josh looked at Ryo and said rather bluntly, "Between Casey's split personality and Caryl's antics, I'm very, very glad I don't have a girlfriend yet."

Casey answers this remark by sending Josh flying to the other side of the room with a giant hammer which she pulled out of nowhere. Casey yelled with an anger vein on her forehead, "That's what you get for dissing me, Joshy!" Josh flew into the far wall and came down on the floor.

There was a sudden ~swish~ noise and the hammer was suddenly cut in two, smacking Casey on her head. "I thought the two of us had a deal, Casey!" Alan said angrily, brandishing a sword (similar to a kantana, but longer)1, which chose that moment to fade out of existence, as did the two halves of the hammer. Casey rubbed her head and smiled innocently, saying simply, "I forgot…"

"Yeah? Well, forget again and I'll put you in a Poké Ball."

When Josh gets up, his face is red and he has a welt on his head. "Owie…" was all Josh could manage as he climbed to his feet rather slowly.

"Are you alright?" Ryo asked, going over to Josh and helping him up.

Back at the counter, Kyle is trying to break free of Casey's grip, saying, "Now, hang on a minute!" Casey took this meaning literally and hugged Kyle even tighter.

"Casey," Alan said, "let him go or I'll find the nearest Officer Jenny and have you arrested for sexual assault."

THAT did it. Casey leapt away from Kyle, blushing furiously. "What kind of sicko pervert do you take me for?"

"A disturbed one." the woman at the counter replied simply, already beginning to plan her next vacation. What was it with some Trainers?

When Josh finally walked back over to the counter (with some help from Ryo), Kyle finally got a chance to talk with Casey. "Casey, we've gotten to battle alongside one another in the past and… while I don't mean any offense to you, I think it would be a better idea to team up with someone else and try working together with him." Since the team of Destined only included boys other than Casey, this didn't tell Casey a dang thing about what Kyle wanted to do.

1 Dimensional Blade. When you absolutely, positively need to cut something in half.

Casey asked rather pointedly, "So, who are you planning to bring with you inside the tower instead of me, huh?" Kyle knew Casey was not going to like what she was about to hear, but he wasn't going to be pushed around by her. "I'm going to take Josh up to the top of the tower."

Josh looked at Kyle, rather shocked by this. Casey was shocked as well, but for a different reason. "WHAT?! You'd rather be with Josh than little old me?" Casey's voice had started angry, but got to be sweet by the time she spoke those last couple of words.

Kyle sweatdropped and said, "It's not that I don't want you to come with me, Casey. It's just that… I think it would be better if Josh and I improved our relationship a bit, and what better way to do that than to battle alongside on another with a common goal in mind?"

Casey pouted a little bit, while Josh looked like he was still in shock, and that's because he was still in shock. Josh stammered, "You… you want me… to battle alongside you?" Kyle nodded and said, "We're both relatively green on Pokemon training, Josh. It's not like either one of us will be better than the other." After a moment, Kyle smirked and added, "And as I said before, this will be a nice way for us to become closer as friends and teammates."

After hearing Kyle's reasoning, Josh smiled and nodded. "Well, when you put it that way, how could I possibly refuse?" Kyle smiled in approval and Casey stomped off, clearly not thrilled with this twist.

Ryo sweatdrops and tells Josh and Kyle, "Good luck, you two." Alan smiled and wished Josh and Kyle luck in the tower as well. Of course, Josh says sarcastically, "And good luck to the two of you with Casey!"

Casey hears this and yells across the lobby, "SHUT UP!!!" causing the other Destined to shake their heads in embarrassment. Ryo and Alan walk back over toward Casey while Josh and Kyle turn to the lady at the counter. "As I was going to say before, I'd like to head up into Trainer Hill with my friend Josh."

Josh smiled at Kyle as the lady nodded and entered a bit of information into the computer before saying, "All right! Good luck to the both of you!" The door into Trainer Hill opened to the left of Kyle and Josh and they nodded to each other before heading up the stairs into the tower.

Across the lobby, Casey sighed and asked herself, "Why did Kyle want to go up with him instead of me?"

Ryo patted Casey on the back and said, "I don't think what Kyle said should be taken to mean anything other than what he said. I think he seriously wanted to go up the tower with Josh to try and strengthen the relationship between them, Casey."

Alan looked at Casey and simply nodded, agreeing with Ryo and not wanting to say anything to upset the already upset Casey, even though it seemed she was getting upset over absolutely nothing at all.

-1st Floor of Trainer Hill Tower-

Josh and Kyle crested the steps, and what they saw was pretty amazing. A couple of corridors stood in front of Kyle and Josh, and while that was far from amazing, what was amazing was the size of the tower floor and the fact that they could see nothing of what was going on outside of the tower. The tower's windows were covered with steel curtains, meaning the tower was depending entirely on the Mauville power grid.

The two trainers looked at one another for a few moments, and then Josh spoke up. "Let's travel down the left corridor." Kyle looked at Josh and asked, "Any particular reason why?" Josh shrugged and said, "Well… not really, Kyle. It just feels right, is all."

Of course, Kyle didn't have a better idea in his own head, so he just went along with Josh's gut instinct and together they went down the path that Josh chose. After some twisting and turning down the linear pathway, they reached a fairly open area. An area which seemed ideal for battling… of course, no sooner than Josh and Kyle step into the area do the four entrances into the area shut closed with steel-reinforced doors.

The two of them jump when the doors close and Josh panics slightly, pounding on the doors in an attempt to get them to open up once more. These efforts are met with nothing but pain on Josh's fists.

Kyle sweatdrops at this action, saying to Josh, "Relax, already. I'm sure once we beat these trainers at their own game, we'll be released from this chamber."

Laughter came from above the two of them as two ninja look-alikes come down and land on their feet in front of Kyle and a now befuddled Josh. "You're very perceptive, kid," one ninja said.

The other ninja laughed and said, "You'll have to beat the both of us in order to open these doors and advance further into this Tower!"

Josh glared at the two ninjas while Kyle simply chose to smile and say, "Josh and I will defeat the likes of you very easily!" The ninjas frowned beneath the masks which covered their mouths and one said, "We shall see…"

Suddenly, the two ninjas each pulled out a Poke Ball and yell, "Go!" simultaneously. Within a few moments, the purple ball of gas, Koffing, and the medium-sized pile of purple sludge, Grimer, came forth into the room. It immediately became ridiculously obvious why the two ninjas were covering their mouths, because of the poison these two Pokemon were constantly spewing.

Josh blinked for a moment remembering something he had heard from Steven back at Dewford Island.

~Josh, the Steel-Type is one of the strongest types defensively. Not only do the vast majority of Pokemon attacks bounce off the Steel-Type Pokemon, but they are completely immune to any and all Poison-Type attacks.~

Josh then chose to smile as he pulled out his Poke Ball. "Go, Beldum!" The one-eyed floating Steel/Psychic type Pokemon came forth on the field and looked at its two opponents, giving off a sense of well-being at the same time.

Kyle looked at Beldum and remembered himself the major benefit of pitting a Steel-Type against a Poison-Type. He then knew that the Pokemon he chose himself was completely irrelevant to their success on the battlefield, so he just selected a Poke Ball and went with it. "Go, Noble!" Pikachu was soon present next to Beldum.

Almost immediately, both ninjas target Noble with Sludge attacks, the black sludge coming off Grimer's body and Koffing's mouth, aimed right at Noble. Josh takes charge, yelling, "Beldum, guard Noble now!" Beldum nodded and flew over in front of its partner, taking both blows itself. However, the sludge merely flies off in all directions around Beldum, nearly splattering Kyle and Josh with the attack.

After the attack ended, Josh jumped out of the way of the sludge which came his way and then yelled out, "Beldum, let's take out the trash! Nail Grimer with Take Down!" Beldum flew right at the sludge Pokemon and caused it to go flying upon impact. Kyle took similar action, saying, "Noble, let's hit Koffing hard with Thunderbolt!"

The electric attack shot out of Noble and hit Koffing, causing it to cry, "Koffing!" in agony from the attack. The two ninjas were taken aback by not only the strength of the attacks, but by the ferocity the two Pokemon had shown during these two attacks. Of course, it wasn't over yet.

One ninja yelled, "Koffing, use Smokescreen to cover our tracks!" Koffing nodded. "Koff!" All at once, a plume of black smoke shot out of Koffing's mouth, affecting how clear the battlefield was to Josh, Kyle and Noble. Fortunately for Josh, Beldum didn't have to avert its eye or cough trying to obtain some fresh air. Josh took advantage. "Beldum, Take Down Koffing!"

Beldum charged out of the black smoke and hit Koffing dead-on, causing him to fly into Grimer, and both to get stuck in one another. While Josh, Kyle and Noble continued to cough due to the smoke, Koffing and Grimer struggled to get free from each other.

In the end, though, Koffing faints due to lack of air coming through its holes, and Grimer ends up fainting due to having its body strained and pulled for too long. Both ninjas put on looks of shock following the battle. "I… I can't believe this." One ninja said to the other. The other ninja replied, saying, "Despite their general lack of teamwork, they managed to beat both of us."

Josh glared at the ninja and asked, "What is that supposed to mean?" The ninjas looked at Josh and answered, "Well, take a look at your tactics during that last battle. Despite the fact that Beldum protected Pikachu from our Sludge, for the most part, each one of you went after your own target, in lieu of working together as a team. You won't get very far in this tower if the two of you can't work together, but for now, I guess we've got to let you pass."

Josh and Kyle looked at one another as the steel door leading onward into the tower opened up while the other doorways remained closed. One ninja said in a smug tone, "We'll be interested to see how far you can climb the tower with your lackluster teamwork. Farewell!" The two ninja throw smoke bombs onto the floor and in a burst of smoke, the two are gone, including their Pokemon.

Kyle and Josh blink before recalling Beldum and Noble into their respective Poke Balls. Josh looks at Kyle and asks, "Hey, Kyle, do you think those ninjas are right? That we aren't working together?"

Kyle thought for a moment, and then he replied, "Well, I guess we'll find out as we head up the tower, now won't we?" Josh couldn't find himself arguing with Kyle, so he simply nodded and the two of them went into the corridor opened up to them by the newly opened doorway.

The corridor lined with green tile continued to wind and twist for about 5 more minutes before Josh and Kyle emerged from the maze and were faced with a stairway heading upstairs. They both nod to one another and head upstairs to face their next challenge.

-Trainer Hill Tower, 2nd Floor-

Josh and Kyle come out at the east end of the 2nd floor and what they see is a bit… befuddling. The second floor is littered with holes, and while some are able to be easily jumped, some are far too wide to cross. However, the floor has something else different about it too… different colored tiles set in the floor for some inexplicable reason.

Josh narrowed his gaze toward one of these colored tiles and asked, "What the heck is this supposed to do?" Kyle shook his head and responded, "How am I supposed to know? Why don't you try going to stand on it and find out?"

Josh thought about this for a moment, then he nodded, pretty sure that Team Rocket, Team Magma or Team Aqua could have anything to do with this place. Josh walked over and stepped on the tile, which immediately retracted into the ground, almost causing Josh to lose his footing. At the same time, a couple of blocks appear from the ceiling spanning the chasm.

Upon seeing this new sight, Josh cheers and steps off the tile. However, the moment he does, the blocks disappear back into the ceiling. Josh and Kyle blink, and then Josh sweatdrops. "The only way to let you across is to stand on the switch…" Kyle turns to Josh and gives a light smile. "I'll find a way for you to make it across too, Josh. I promise."

Josh nodded and, with a look which said that he was resigned to the fate of being left behind, Josh stepped on the tile once more to drop the blocks which Kyle would use to get across the chasm. Kyle ran across the giant hole and he began to look around almost immediately for another off-colored tile. Josh stepped off the tile he was on and the blocks returned to the ceiling.

Josh then began to wait patiently at the other side of the chasm while waiting for Kyle to find a similar tile on the other side. It would take about 3 minutes of searching, but finally, Kyle found a switch to push in on the wall which allowed Josh a chance to cross over to the other side.

The moment Josh made it to the other side of the chasm, Kyle let go of the switch and the two of them entered a room to the right of them… in which the door slammed shut behind them almost immediately, much like the first floor. Josh and Kyle turn around when the door slams shut, but Josh is at least bright enough not to go pounding on the door a second time.

Instead, Josh and Kyle wait for their challenge to come waltzing in. After a few moments, a couple of Pokemon Rangers walk into the room through a second doorway before the door crashes shut behind them too. The Rangers look at Josh and Kyle and they nod to one another, saying, "Well, you've made it through the second floor, and now you have to face the two of us to advance onward to the 3rd floor!"

Josh and Kyle nod to one another as the two Rangers pulled out their Poke Balls. "Go!" they both cry as they let their Poke Balls go flying. Within moments, Oddish and Lotad come forth onto the field of battle.

Josh is not happy with the choice of Pokemon by the opponent, so he goes with the Pokemon he believes will have the best chance of doing well. "Go, Poochyena!" The small black dog comes out of his Poke Ball and howls at the opponent. Kyle, on the other hand, is quite happy with the choice of Pokemon this time, but because of Lotad, the only good choice is… "Go, Taillow!" Within moments, the small, feisty bird is out on the field of battle.

One ranger yelled, "Oddish, use Sleep Powder to put their Pokemon out for now!" Oddish shot forth a blue powder of sorts and it spread across the field. Fortunately for Taillow, he was able to fly above the powder. However, Poochyena was not so lucky and he fell asleep.

Josh sweatdropped as he yelled for Poochyena to wake up. That's when the Sleep Powder began to spread to where Josh and Kyle were standing and both had to cover their mouths in order to prevent from being affected by the attack themselves. Kyle yelled, "Taillow, blow this Sleep Powder away now!"

Taillow nodded and flapped his wings very quickly, reversing the course of Sleep Powder right back on the Pokemon Rangers, causing them to cover their mouths in a rush as they didn't expect this to happen… obviously.

Kyle then commanded, "Taillow, hit Oddish hard with your Wing Attack!" Taillow cawed and flew down right at the weed Pokemon, who would feel the full brunt of the attack just moments later. Oddish fell backwards from the sheer force of the Wing Attack against its small, round body.

Josh still struggled to wake Poochyena while Lotad continued to squirt him with continuing Water Gun attacks, which of course failed to wake the dog Pokemon. Kyle yelled, "Taillow, now hit Lotad with Wing Attack!" Taillow repeated the attack against Oddish on Lotad, with similar results, one might add.

In fact, a pattern very quickly emerged in this battle, as Taillow alternated targets for his Wing Attack while Poochyena just slept on the job. While it was far from the most stunning display of teamwork anyone had ever seen before, it was passable, in that Taillow knocked out both Lotad and Oddish and gave them the victory.

The two Pokemon Rangers shook their heads as they recalled their Pokemon. "I've not seen much better examples of two disjointed people and strategies than you two." Kyle said calmly, "Well, we won, didn't we?"

One Ranger nodded. "Yes, you did. But, you can't expect to make it all the way to the top the way you two are going." The door opened behind the Rangers as they said, "We'll see if you two have what it takes to make it all the way. Go on to the next floor."

Kyle and Josh looked at each other with concerned looks on their faces, but they nod to one another and head upstairs to the 3rd floor.

-Base of Trainer Hill Tower-

Casey, Ryo and Alan all look downright bored while waiting for Josh and Kyle to get done. Casey asks, "How much longer are they going to be? It's already been close to 20 minutes, for crying out loud!"

Ryo sweatdropped and replied, "I guess we couldn't have rightfully expected the two of them to finish in record time or anything."

Alan lit up suddenly, "Hey, why don't we head outside and get some fresh air?" Ryo and Casey consider this for a moment, and then nod in agreement. Casey observed, "At least it'll be something to do."

Little did the three of them realize that they were going to be walking right into danger the moment they got outside, for they the moment they got outside, they saw a giant Mecha which resembled James's over-eager Pokemon, Cacnea.

Almost immediately, the three Destined figure out what's going on. Ryo palms his face and says, "Guess who's back…?"

The annoying cackle of Jessie's familiar voice came from within the cockpit of the Mecha Cacnea. "Hahaha! Prepare for trouble from a giant mech!"

James added, "And make it double, we'll give you heck!"

The two of them were visible in the cockpit at this moment. "To protect the world from devastation…"

"To unite the peoples within our nation…"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love…"

"To extend our reach to the stars above…"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket becomes better with each night!"

"Surrender now or you're going to lose the fight!"

Meowth popped into the cockpit at that moment, as well as a familiar blue Pokemon… "Meowth, that's right!"

"Wobbuffet!"

Ryo looked annoyed as he asked, "What in the world do you want now?"

James answered, "What we always want, twerps… your Pokemon!"

Alan glared and answered, "You're never going to take our Pokemon!" Jessie cackled once more and said, "I beg to differ! This Mecha Cacnea is going to ensure our victory over you twerps this time!"

Of course, Ryo, Alan and Casey would have something to say about that… "Go, Charmeleon!" Ryo yelled. "You're up to bat, Aquaris!" Casey announced. Alan finished, "Give 'em hell, Tommy!" Within mere moments, Ryo's Charmeleon, Casey's Mudkip and Alan's Charmander were out on the field.

Charmeleon complained, "Don't tell me those morons are up to their old tricks again…" Ryo slowly nodded and said, "I'm afraid so."

Alan frowned and commanded, "Tommy, hit the Mecha Cacnea with Flamethrower!" Tommy said confidently, "You've got it!" before launching a powerful plume of fire at Mecha Cacnea.

Much to their surprise and horror, Mecha Cacnea suddenly launched a sort of energy netting, which caught Flamethrower, causing the net to explode, causing no harm to the Mecha or to the Pokemon on the field. Jessie laughed from within the cockpit. "You see? We're prepared for all your Pokemon's attacks this time!"

James continued, "Trey would be so proud of us if he could see us now."

Casey couldn't help but laugh, saying snidely, "I wouldn't bet on that, you three."

Meowth fired back, "Oh yeah? Well, let's see youse dodge this! Needle Cannon fire!" Meowth pressed a button and the Mecha Cacnea brought forth a large gun from its top, causing the Destined to sweatdrop. Before they could react, the Needle Cannon fired a barrage of energetically charged needles.

Alan and Ryo tried to have Tommy and Charmeleon fry the needles in mid-air, but all they succeed in doing is making the Needles explode. As a result, Ryo and Charmeleon go flying away, and Casey, Alan, Tommy and Aquaris all end up knocked out on the ground.

Jessie and James step out of the cockpit laughing as they recall Tommy and Aquaris into their Poke Balls. Meowth says, "It's time to initiate the 2nd phase of our plan…" Jessie and James pulled out a couple of bottles of a mysterious substance, grinning evilly as they approached the fallen Destined…

-Trainer Hill Tower, 3rd Floor-

Josh and Kyle stepped onto the 3rd floor and saw something which made them quite happy… the fact that there appeared to be no tricks, no tomfoolery, just a straight-up Tag Team Battle to move on to the 4th floor. Josh and Kyle nodded to one another without saying a word and walked toward the doors into the arena on this floor.

However, once they got to the tiles before the door, an alarm went off. Both Josh and Kyle knew that things were too good to be true. Much to their surprise, however, the doors open without further incident and inside are revealed to be two Hikers. "Welcome to the 3rd floor of Trainer Hill Tower. We're your opponents on this floor, whether you like it or not."

Josh smiled and said, "We'll take on all challengers, no matter who they happen to be!" Kyle nodded, "We're not afraid of you!"

The Hikers smirked. "We shall see about that." Both of them pull out a Poke Ball. "Go, Graveler!" one hiker shouted. "I choose you, Nosepass!" the other cried.

Josh and Kyle both smiled as they choose their Pokemon. "Go for it, Blade!" Josh yelled as he tossed his Poke Ball. Kyle shouted, "Go, Toaster!" as he tossed his Poke Ball.

Within a matter of moments, the Hikers had a giant rock creature, Graveler, and a familiar sight in the magnetic Nosepass. On the Destined's side of the field, Grovyle and Combusken came forth onto the field.

However, within moments, both Grovyle and Combusken come out of Fighting stance and stare aimlessly at the other side of the field. "Snap out of it!" Josh yelled at Blade. "Come on, Combusken!" Kyle shouted.

It was clear within moments that their two Pokemon weren't listening anymore. Instead, a few moments later, Combusken walks toward Josh and Grovyle toward Kyle. Both Josh and Kyle tilt their heads in confusion from the events which were transpiring in front of them. It was almost as if Toaster thought she belonged to Josh and Blade thought he belonged to Kyle.

Of course, unbeknownst to them, a couple of Shuppet hung out near the ceiling of the room, and they were actively creating a Psychic compulsion in the minds of Combusken and Grovyle. While this compulsion did nothing to hurt the Pokemon, it did distort their perception of the two trainers. As a result, it was exactly as if Toaster thought she belonged to Josh and Blade thought he belonged to Kyle.

As the battle began, Josh yelled, "Blade, use Bullet Seed against Graveler now!" As one might expect, Blade did nothing to respond to Josh's command. Similarly, Kyle commanded, "Toaster, hit Nosepass with Double Kick!" As before, the attack didn't take place at all.

The Hikers laughed. "Now, we'll show you what we're made of! Graveler, use Rollout!" Graveler got on its side and began to roll straight at Toaster. At once, Kyle yelled at Josh, "Tell Toaster to get out of the way!" Josh blinked and asked, "Are you sure that'll work?" Kyle shook his head. "No, but there's at least a chance that it'll work."

Josh thought for a few moments, which happened to be at least a moment too long as Toaster was hit by the oncoming Graveler and flew right into Josh. Kyle yelled, "Hey, Josh! That's my Pokemon you just let get hurt!"

Josh rubbed his head and said meekly, "I'm sorry…" Kyle sighed and said, "Look, we're not going to get anywhere if we don't work together as a team."

Josh nodded, "You've got that right." The second Hiker said, "Nosepass, use Rock Throw on Grovyle now!" Josh responded by saying, "Kyle, use Bullet Seed to deflect the rocks!"

Kyle nodded and yelled, "Blade, counter-attack with Bullet Seed!" Much to Josh's surprise and Kyle's pleasure, Blade immediately responded by shooting the rapid-fire seed attack from his mouth, stopping the rocks in their tracks. A small number of seeds made it to Nosepass, and these seeds did do some damage, as Kyle could tell following the attack.

The hiker frowned slightly at this, but overall, the two of them were still unworried about a single "lucky attack", as one hiker put it. Meanwhile, the Graveler charged once more toward Toaster using Rollout. Kyle yelled at Josh, "Have Toaster use Double Kick! And do it right this time!"

Josh frowned slightly and he yelled, "Toaster, jump up and hit Graveler now!" Toaster quickly responded by doing as Josh said, jumping in the air and slamming down hard with her talons, causing Graveler to cry out in pain as a response to the attack.

Josh then had his own idea after a few moments. "Hey, Kyle… why don't we go on the offensive? I'm sure it would be more effective than simply being reactive all the time."

Kyle lit up and answered, "Hey, why not? Try using Double Kick on Graveler to knock him into Nosepass." Josh grinned evilly and nodded. "No problem." Josh then turned to Toaster and yelled, "Counter that rolling Graveler with Double Kick now!"

Toaster got in a preparation pose and waited for Graveler to approach on its Rollout attack… When it does, Toaster delivers a swift kick to Graveler, causing it to change course and fly over her head. The pleasant side-effect of this maneuver is that Graveler and Nosepass crash into one another, causing both to yelp in pain from the impact.

Josh then yelled at Kyle, "Now have Blade finish the job with a heaping helping of Bullet Seed!"

Kyle nodded quickly and relayed the order to Blade, who fired off his standard overdose of Bullet Seed, causing both Graveler and Nosepass to be pushed into the back wall and knocked out only moments later.

Both hikers sulked as they recalled their Pokemon. However, at that moment, things become a bit clearer as two previously invisible Pokemon make themselves apparent… a couple of Ghost Pokemon. Kyle yelled, "Hey, those are Shuppet!"

One hiker smirked and said, "Of course! We wanted to truly test your skills as a team, and what better way to do that than to take you out of your comfort zone and switch your Pokemon?" Kyle and Josh both growled, but then, the Shuppet released their hold on the minds of Blade and Toaster and they quickly recovered, shaking their heads rapidly in the meantime.

Once they recover, both Pokemon walk over to their respective trainers as though nothing happened. The hikers smile and say, "You've proven a lot by getting through this battle, but the worst is yet to come. We wish you both the best of luck in the final challenge… you'll need it…"

Both Josh and Kyle glare at the hikers as the steel doors open and they are allowed to advance. After staring at the hikers for about a minute, Josh and Kyle gather their Pokemon and proceed to the staircase before heading upstairs…

-About 1,000 feet from the base of Trainer Hill Tower-

Jessie smiled at the handiwork the three of them had done to their new captives, standing next to Casey's and Alan's backpacks and Poke Balls. "The twerps aren't going to be able to escape this trap!"

James added, "This new plan really takes the cake!"

Meowth exclaimed, "Dose twerps ain't gonna get outta this one!"

It was at about this time that Casey chose to wake up… "Ugh… where am I?" She asked herself. It was about then that she noticed her hands were behind her back and she tried to pull them out… unfortunately, she would find that task impossible, as the two hands were not cuffed to one another, but were actually glued, palm-to-palm, to each other.

Casey yelled, "What the heck is going on here?!" Casey then found out that she was, in fact, standing on her feet, back-to-back, to one of her rivals and friends, Alan. To make matters worse, all over her body, she could feel a sort of sticky goo, even inside her sneakers and underwear.

And to finalize the insult, her bare legs were glued to the back of Alan's jeans, making her very uncomfortable, and giving her the correct assumption that she was glued back-to-back with Alan.

Casey yelled, "Wake up, Alan!" Alan did wake up a few moments later and grumbled, "Just five more minutes…" Casey would have yelled again, if it weren't for the fact that Alan's eyes then shot open as he struggled to get free of the trap.

Alan asked, "How did I end up here?" He tried to walk away from Casey, but the Super Glue proved to be far stronger than either of them. They were stuck together, back-to-back. Suddenly, the two of them could hear rather annoying laughter coming from nearby, and they turned around, with some effort, so that Alan faced Team Rocket.

Alan asked, in a rather calm tone given the situation, "What exactly is going on here?" Casey shuddered, barely resisting the urge to run.

Jessie answered, "We're doing our job, twerp."

Casey retorted, "Using Super Glue?!" James smiled and said, "Well, it's the only thing we know of that you twerps can't break out of!" Indeed, the two of them struggled to get away from one another, or even to get their hands out from behind their backs, which didn't succeed at all.

Alan then had an idea and asked, "Casey, can you take off your jacket?" Casey blinked, but then tried to shake her jacket off and found it just as stuck as the rest of her clothes on her body. Meowth said, "We made sure all da necessary precautions were taken dis time!"

Suddenly, with a pop and a, "Wobbuffet!" the annoying blue Pokemon came out to further Alan and Casey's annoyance with the situation.

James said, "Well, we do have the other three twerps to concern ourselves with before we can truly start celebrating…" Meowth and Jessie nodded and Jessie said, "The twerp we blew away is sure to come a calling soon enough, and the other two are in the tower. We'll nail them when they come out!"

Little did they know that the twerp who was blown away, Ryo, was in a nearby bush, having previously snuck this close to Team Rocket, whose hiding place stuck out like a sore thumb thanks to Mecha Cacnea. He hid there, along with Charmeleon.

Ryo whispered, "Do you think we can blow up Mecha Cacnea now that Team Rocket's out of there?" Charmeleon nodded, keeping a very serious face. "I think we can now. But we need to hurry before Team Rocket climbs back in there."

Ryo sighed and said quietly, "Then let's sneak around the backside and hit Mecha Cacnea where they least expect it!"

The two of them snuck as quietly as they could, obviously pulling away from the bushes next to the hideaway of Team Rocket so they couldn't be spotted on sight.

Inside the hideaway, Jessie, James and Meowth were giving themselves the proverbial pat on the back for finally figuring out how to outsmart the twerps.

"Trey would be so proud of us if he could see us now!" Jessie exclaimed. Casey retorted, "He wouldn't be thrilled to see you trying to take our stuff again!" James grinned and said, "Oh, we'll just sell off your stuff the next chance we get and keep the Pokemon for ourselves! Trey won't be at all the wiser!" Meowth finished, "Especially cause you twerps ain't going anywhere!" Wobbuffet added in his two cents, as always, "Wobbuffet!"

About this time, Ryo and Charmeleon had snuck all the way around to the back of the Mecha Cacnea. It is here that the two of them see the glaring weakness of the Mecha… a panel hidden in the back which is quite vulnerable to fire.

Ryo turns to Charmeleon and nods, saying, "You know what to do." Charmeleon smiles and suddenly fires forth Flamethrower from the bushes, amazingly not catching the bush itself on fire. Alan is the only one to see the flames coming from the bushes, and at first he tilts his head, causing Jessie, James and Meowth to worry.

They turn around just in time to see the stream of flame enter the Mecha… and cause it to blow up in their faces.

As they flew through the air, Jessie cried, "We let our guard down too soon!"

James moaned, "It's the same story every time…"

Meowth finished, "A brilliant plan mucked by laziness…"

All three then yelled their standard, "We're blasting off again!" as Wobbuffet could be heard complaining in the distance…

Ryo then ran up to Casey and Alan and immediately sweatdropped at the situation. "Oh, great. What are we supposed to do about this?!" The answer would not be obvious, but one thing would be… a couple of extra bottles of Super Glue…

-Trainer Hill Tower, 4th Floor-

Josh and Kyle crest the stairs and enter the 4th and final floor of Trainer Hill Tower. However, as soon as they enter the floor, they both step inadvertently on two separate warp tiles and are teleported away from the staircase. They would appear about 5 seconds later in two, separate, fairly large rooms filled with computer monitors at the 4 corners of the room, a card-shaped slot in the middle of the room, and a door with 4 card-shaped slots in it.

Josh blinked and was the first to yell out, "Where in the heck am I, and where did Kyle go?" Kyle answered back, "I don't know where we are, but I'm right here." From the sound of Kyle's voice, it sounded like he was in a room to the right of the one he was in.

It was about then that they saw the clocks throughout the room marking a 20 minute countdown… which had just begun. Both Josh and Kyle panicked lightly, as Kyle yelled, "This place is trying to kill us!"

Josh then said, "Well, maybe if we consult the computer screens, we can figure out how to escape!" Kyle yelled, "Good idea!" and both of them ran to the nearest computer screen.

On Josh's screen read a question, a very easy one. "Which of the following is a Water-type Pokemon?" The screen then showed pictures of a Whismur, a Marill, a Numel and an Azurill. Josh smiled and said, "This is an easy one!" He pressed the picture of Marill and the computer chimed before a strange card popped out of a slot.

At the same time, on Kyle's screen was a similar question. "Which of the following would be best to challenge Manectric?" The screen showed pictures of a Geodude, an Aron, a Masquerain and a Chimecho. Kyle smiled widely and said, "This is so easy, I can't believe they'd even ask this question!" Kyle pressed the picture of Geodude and the computer chimed, spitting out a strange card in the process.

Both Josh and Kyle looked at the cards, then to the door with 4 slots in it. Both said at about the same time, "This probably fits in the door!" Both ran up to the door on their respective sides of the room and put what they thought, and actually was, a keycard into a random slot on the door. Both were quickly rejected.

The two of them frantically tried the keycard in the other three slots, each time getting rejected. Both then yelled, "Why doesn't this stupid thing work?!" Both of them then ran throughout the room, trying to find some sort of anything which would help them. About two minutes later, Kyle would discover a slot on the left side of his room which appeared to go into a similar room on the other side.

Kyle then tried sliding the card through and he could hear the card fall onto the floor. Kyle called out, "Josh! Look over here!" Josh blinked and walked over to where he heard Kyle's voice coming from. Much to his surprise, another keycard was there, and he picked it up. Kyle said through the slot, "Josh, it looks like this slot is meant for swapping keycards. Why don't you try giving me the one you got before and we can try those on our doors?"

Josh thought for about 15 seconds before finally slipping the keycard through the slot. "It's worth a shot, at least." Josh observed as the two of them returned to the door with 4 slots for keycards. Kyle managed to put the card in the right slot the first time, while Josh took a couple of tries before he found the slot which accepted his keycard. Josh smiled and yelled, "Thanks, Kyle!" Kyle smiled and they went on to the second question.

Josh's screen read, "Which Pokemon is known as the "Elemental Spirit of the Desert"?" Josh blinked, especially when no choices were given. Instead, he was expected to type in the correct answer on the console. He said to himself, "How the heck am I supposed to know that?!"

Kyle looked at his screen and read, "Which Pokemon is said to be the most beautiful in the world?" Kyle smiled and said, "I know the answer to that question." He typed in "Milotic" into the computer and pressed Enter. The computer chimed and spit out a keycard. Kyle figured that the same thing which happened before likely applied here, so he slid the keycard through the slot and waited for Josh to do the same.

After about a minute of waiting, Kyle yelled through the slot, "Josh, what's the holdup?" Josh replied in an embarrassed tone, "I don't know the answer to my question…" Kyle sweatdropped and asked, "Well, what is your question?"

It took Josh a moment to answer, but once Josh saw the clock tick down to 15 minutes, he repeated the question to Kyle. "Which Pokemon is known as the "Elemental Spirit of the Desert"?" Kyle blinked. He didn't know the answer to that question either. But then, he lit up. "Hold on, Josh. Let me consult the Big Book of Pokemon for that answer."

Josh nodded and stood patiently at the machine while Kyle pulled out the book and flipped through page after page, trying to discover the answer to the question. After about a minute and a half of flipping, Kyle yells, "Try Flygon!" Josh nods and types in exactly as it sounds like it would be spelled, "Flygon" and presses Enter. The machine chimes and out comes the other keycard.

Josh smiles and as he passes the keycard through the slot, he tells Kyle, "Thanks for helping me." Kyle smiled back as they both took their respective keycards and inserted them into the proper slots, after a couple of misses, of course.

Then it was on to the next computer and the next question. Josh got the following question on his monitor, "How fast can an unladen Pidgey travel through the air on average?" Josh then began crunching numbers based on something he had read back in Kanto.

On Kyle's screen, the following question popped up, "How much wood could a Machop chop if a Machop could chop wood… in 1 hour?" Kyle blinked and asked, "What am I supposed to do with this question?"

Josh already had out a piece of paper and was crunching some serious numbers. If one stared at the equations Josh was using to figure out the answer, chances are one would get a massive headache. After about 4 minutes of this number crunching, Josh typed in the answer on his console. "13 miles per hour" was what he typed into the machine, and moments later, the machine chimed and out came the third keycard.

Josh ran over and put the keycard through the slot. When Kyle heard the keycard drop, he went over to the slot and told Josh, "I need help with my question… time is starting to run out on us, and if we don't hurry…" Josh nodded and said, "Lay it on me, Kyle." Kyle relayed the question to Josh and he started crunching numbers again.

Josh said to himself, "Well, if the Machop has this much strength… and can use its attacks this often… and the size of the trees averages this long… and the average density of the trees is this much…"

Kyle stared through the slot, wondering how Josh was able to crunch so many numbers at once. After about 3 minutes, Josh lit up and yelled, "30 lbs, Kyle!" Kyle ran over to the machine and typed in Josh's guess, and sure enough, the machine chimed and the keycard came out. Kyle ran over and placed the card in the slot and picked up the one from Josh.

Together, both of them inserted the cards in their proper slots and were accepted. There was but one monitor remaining, and the puzzle they would be faced with was a doozy… in fact, both Josh and Kyle would find that they were challenged with the exact same puzzle.

"A Pokemon Trainer is captured by a group of savages out in the wild. These savages take the Trainer back to the village. After much consideration, he was sentenced to die for some reason. The tribe's chief commented, 'We are not total savages as you would think. We will let you choose the manner of your own death. Give us a statement – If we know it to be true, then you will be boiled alive and eaten. If we know it to be false, you will be covered in honey and left for the Beedrill to eat.'

After a moment, the chief added, 'Be warned… If you try to confuse us by saying a statement we know nothing about, then you will be boiled and eaten without further question.' Somehow, the Trainer manages to walk away from the village unharmed by confusing the villagers. What did the Trainer say?"

Both Josh and Kyle cringe a little bit at the nature of the question, but they almost immediately start talking with one another to try and ascertain the answer. "How in the world is someone going to get out of a scenario like this?" Josh asked Kyle. Kyle shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I'm not sure… I mean, if you say something true, you die. If you say something false, you die. If you say something they know nothing about, you die. How do you get out of it alive?"

The clock continued to tick toward their own unknown doom while they thought about the answer. Kyle eventually speaks up, "How about if the Trainer says a statement that is inherently both true and false?" Josh blinked and said, "Well, how would you do that?" After a few moments of thought, Josh added, "Maybe if he made a statement about the statement…"

Kyle blinked, and then snapped his fingers. "No, if he said something about his punishment!" Josh blinked, and then he smiled. "If he said he was going to be eaten by Beedrill…" Kyle nodded, "Then it couldn't be true because he would be boiled alive, making the statement false. But, if the they try to force him to be eaten by Beedrill, it makes the statement true!"

Both Josh and Kyle nod to one another and type into their consoles the following sentence, "I will be eaten by Beedrill."

Once that was typed into both consoles, they both beeped and spat out the final keycard. Going off of what they knew from before, Josh and Kyle exchanged keycards and inserted them into the final slots with about 60 seconds to go on the clock. Unfortunately, they are rejected immediately, leaving Josh and Kyle to rapidly switch keycards back and pushing in the keycards once again.

Apparently, the trap decided to try and trick them one more time, and it worked. Fortunately for them, they were able to finish off the puzzle just before time ran out on them and the door opened onto the exit of the 4th floor. When they emerged, Josh and Kyle looked at one another, nodded, and went upstairs.

-Trainer Hill Tower, Rooftop-

Josh and Kyle come out on the top floor of Trainer Hill Tower, and end up in an open-air area which only has one person within it, a middle-aged man in a business suit. The man turned to Josh and Kyle and said, "Congratulations! You two did it! You climbed Trainer Hill Tower together!"

Josh and Kyle look at one another, smile, and then turn back to the man. The man says, "I wish everyone could get along and work together as well as the two of you!" This makes both Josh and Kyle beam with pride, and rightfully so.

The man than said, "I wish I had something more to give you, but my shipment of Pokemon products doesn't come in until next week…" Kyle smiles and says, "It's OK. We understand. Your praise is enough reward for us."

The man shook his head quickly. "No, no, no! I will not let you leave empty-handed…" The man reached into his pockets and dug around for a couple of minutes before lighting up and pulling out a clear bottle full of a strange fluid and handing it to Josh. "Take this. I don't know what it does, but chances are Trainers like you can find a use for it sooner or later."

Josh and Kyle smile at one another before Josh puts away the bottle in his pack and the two of them opt to use the elevator to go back down to the ground floor… and thanking the old man, of course.

A few moments later, Josh and Kyle stepped out… only to find no evidence of Casey, Ryo or Alan anywhere. Blinking, Kyle went up to the Tower's Nurse Joy and asked, "Excuse me, did you see my friends leave?" The nurse smiled and answered, "Yes, they went outside a little while ago, but haven't come back since."

Kyle frowned and turned to Josh. "I don't know about you, but I smell foul play here." Josh thought for a minute, and then answered, "You don't really think it's…" Of course, that sentence by itself was proof enough that Josh and Kyle were on the same wavelength as Kyle nodded and said, "That's exactly who I think it is. Let's go!" Josh gave a mock salute and the two of them ran outside to look for Alan, Casey and Ryo.

-Hidden Clearing-

Ryo and Charmeleon had done everything they could think of to try and separate Casey and Alan. From lightly singing their clothes, to Slashes on the glue itself, nothing appeared to work. They'd even released Kendrix, Alan's Fearow, to use her Psychic attacks to help. Ryo sighed, "I can't think of anything else, can you?" Charmeleon huffed and puffed from all the work he was doing. "No… I can't…"

"Neither can I," Kendrix admitted. "Perhaps Kyle and Josh will think of something.

Casey decided on that exact moment to let out a shrill scream which caused Ryo and Charmeleon to cover their ears. Alan would have loved to have done so as well, but he didn't exactly have a choice in the matter.

The bad news was that this left a ringing in the ears of the immediate Digidestined. The good news was that this gave Kyle a great idea of where Casey was, if no one else. His ears perking up, Kyle blinked and turned to his right, toward a set of bushes on the other side of the "road".

Kyle then said simply, "Let's go, Josh." Josh blinked and stood dumbly next to the tower for a few extra moments before shaking his head and tearing off after Kyle.

-1 Minute Later-

Casey lightly sobbed in the clearing, much to Ryo's and Alan's surprise. "This is just fantastic… now I'll never be able to bring out Aquaris again… I'll never be able to be by myself again… I'll never be able to change again…"

At about this moment, Kyle and Josh came in, and while Alan could see them just fine, Casey could not, so she continued her self-started pity party. "I'll never be able to talk to Kyle privately about anything…" Alan kept his mouth shut, and as soon as Ryo saw Kyle and Josh standing in front of Alan, and consequently behind Casey, he clammed up as well.

Casey continued, "I'll never be able to go on a date with Kyle… I'll never be able to show him how much I care for him…" It was about this time that Casey looked up and saw Ryo with eyes the size of saucers. She sweatdropped and said rather flatly, "He's right behind me, isn't he?" Ryo slowly nodded and Casey gasped, wondering how much of her private spiel he had heard.

Casey asked rather sheepishly, "How much…?" Kyle cut her off and said bluntly, "Every last word of it." Casey blushed rather deeply, completely and totally embarrassed. She stammered, "I'm-I'm-I'm sorry, Kyle…"

Kyle shook his head and said, "No need to apologize, Casey. No need at all." Casey continued to blush, but then her brain registered something it might not have a moment ago. "Is… Is Josh there with you, Kyle?" Josh answered the question by saying simply, "Hey."

If Casey's blush could have become any deeper, it would have, knowing that not only did Kyle hear her unplanned spiel, but Josh, the person most likely to make fun of her later, did as well.

Casey then decided to yell in frustration, "I better not hear you talking behind my back about this, Joshua!" Josh smiled and said, "Why; because you actually care for someone? You expect me to make fun of you for that?!"

Casey yelled, "What is that supposed to mean?" Josh answered, "Because we don't get along, you apparently expect me to make fun of everything you do, even when that something isn't anything that can be made fun of without making me look like a complete and total jerk."

Casey blinked and then calmed down and sighed. "I… I guess I was going a little bit overboard."

Kyle sighed and decided now would be a good time to ask, "And what happened to the two of you?" Alan answered in a bit of a grumpy voice, "Team Rocket decided it was a good idea to glue us together back-to-back."

Josh and Kyle looked at one another for a few moments, and both got the same idea. Josh reached into his pack and pulled out the mystery fluid from the owner of Trainer Hill Tower. "Maybe this stuff will work?" Josh asked Kyle. Kyle shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Casey said, "You'd better not mess up my jacket!" Josh grumbled as he spread the liquid all over Casey's and Alan's backs, or at least where he could reach. Fortunately and luckily, the liquid began to dissolve the glue immediately, and within moments, the two of them are able to step apart from one another, after another coat on Casey's legs, of course.

5 minutes and a few coats later, the glue has entirely dissolved and Casey and Alan are free again. In a rare show of gratitude, Casey hugs not only Kyle in a touching moment, but hugs Josh in what could rightfully be called the most uncomfortable moment of the entire trip so far.

After about 20 seconds, Casey let go of Josh and backed away quickly, blushing a bit at her… rush to gratitude, so to speak. The only look on Josh's face was a blank expression expressing nothing but pure surprise.

Soon enough, Josh and Casey both recover from this awkwardness and they get ready to go on their way. However, Casey spots out of the corner of her eye the bottles left behind by Team Rocket and she grins evilly. "Oh, Josh… Kyle…" Both of them look back at her and see her evil grin. They do what any person in their right mind would do… run away quickly. And Casey does what she would have done anyway… release Electrike from its Poke Ball and use Thunder Wave to hold Josh and Kyle in place.

"Casey…" Alan growled. With surprising initiative, Electrike turned round and paralyzed him as well.

-5 minutes later-

Casey recalls Electrike and finds herself quickly running away from Alan. "Get back here now!" Alan yelled. Casey grinned and said, "Not on your life!" Needless to say, the liquid which freed Casey and Alan from their predicament was now in Casey's hands, being waved above her head as she fled, cackling.

Ryo sweatdropped as he looked at Josh and Kyle. "Boy, am I glad that isn't me." Josh glared at Ryo and said, "Thanks a lot…" While Casey didn't have the heart to put Josh and Kyle in the same situation that she and Alan had been in a short while ago, she did manage to glue Josh and Kyle's outer clothes to their bodies.

Kyle looked at Josh and said, "Well, it could have been worse." Josh nodded and said, "That's true, but if nothing else, at least we have one another." Kyle sighs and observes, "You know, for someone who cares about me, she sure has a strange way of showing it…"

"She is a very strange girl." Kendrix agreed.

"Aaaand she got away." Alan groaned, panting as he returned.

"You are SO out-of-shape…" Ryo grinned.

"Shaddup" Alan retorted, then grinned and scooped up a bottle off the ground, shaking his head.

Kyle and Josh looked at the bottle, then each other, then at the presumable culprit. "Kendrix," Josh began, "if that's the bottle of glue dissolver, what was the bottle Casey had with her?"

"Someone left a bottle of Coke lying around." Kendrix replied simply.

"Waste of good Coke." Alan grumbled, beginning to apply the liquid to Kyle.

"It was Diet."

"Ah. That's different." Alan frowned. "I hope there's enough of this. I still need to separate myself from my underwear."

"Eww." Kyle complained. Then realization dawned and he and Josh began to laugh very, very hard.

Narrator: And so, thanks to some clever teamwork by Josh and Kyle, they conquer Trainer Hill Tower, and become closer to one another. Will this relationship pay dividends in the future, or will Casey get in the way again? Only time will tell…

Next Time: A break in the action turns dangerous for Alan and Casey as they wander off from the party to explore. What sort of foe lurks just outside the view of the HoennDestined, on Poké-World's digital network? And what will the two of them be able to do about that without many of their Pokémon? Find out on the next episode of Digicross Advanced!


	6. RoD 6: Nature's Law

Author's Note: I do realize that the first part of this episode might come off as a bit stiff and cardboard. I tried several times to change it to my liking, and failed miserably. So... it is what it is. Working on top of someone else's concept isn't easy sometimes, as you'll soon see... anyway, enjoy!

Narrator: Today, we find that Alan and Casey have left the others behind. Josh, Ryo and Kyle are resting at a site off Route 113, while these two head off into the woods to find some unique Pokémon. What surprises are waiting for them, and are they ready to face them?

Digicross Advanced Episode 36: "Nature's Law"

Episode Written by Josh Johannesen

Concept Written by Alan Wilkinson

Warning: Light Language Problems. Viewer Discretion Advised

Originally, Casey had planned to go by herself into the woods surrounding Mount Chimney and look for some Pokémon to add to her team. But, Alan had decided to go with her. Not necessarily because he wanted to go with her, but because they both wanted to find some new creatures.

"You find anything yet?" Casey asked Alan.

Alan shook his head. "Nothing of real interest yet… there's nothing here but a bunch of Wurmple! And I've already got a Beautifly…"

Before curiosity could grab Casey's attention, Peter, Alan's Pikachar, got zapped by Electrike, the only two Pokémon the trainers had decided to bring with them.

"What's the big idea with zapping my Pokémon?" Alan asked, a bit frustrated with the purple-haired trainer.

Casey shrugged and said, "He's only trying to be friendly. That's all."

Alan took a closer look at Peter and then yelled, "He's paralyzed, you idiot!"

The young lady looked at Peter for a moment and then said quietly, "He probably deserved it."

Alan shook his head and then accused, "You are a vindictive bitch, aren't you?"

Casey grew an angervein and then turned around and yelled out, "I dare you to say that again!"

Not exactly expecting this type of response from Casey, Alan tried to back off his comment, but it was too late. She lunged at the trainer, and punched him in the jaw.

Alan spit up a tiny bit of blood, and then came back at her with punch to the stomach, forcing her backwards.

Casey growled at Alan, and prepared to lunge again. Suddenly, though, Electrike and Peter both launched Thundershock, creating a loud boom and startling both trainers.

Casey blinked at the two Pokémon and then asked, "What happened?"

Alan blinked as well, and then said, "I'm not sure, but I think we've been told off."

Electrike and Peter both made noises to confirm this train of thought was correct.

What startled everyone, though, was the sound of the Digivice. Casey reached into her pocket to see the screen as active as ever. She showed it to Alan and asked, "Is yours working as well?"

Alan dug out his Digivice and showed the same thing, an active screen. "I don't know what this means, but I do know who would love to find out more."

Pulling out his laptop, Alan powered it up as Casey looked on with a good deal of skepticism. Alan raised an eyebrow and stated, "What? It's used for a lot more than you think it might be."

Casey asked, "What, anime, sentai and porn?"

Alan's eyebrow twitched for a moment as he retorted, "You're confusing my computer, partly, with Kyle's."

Casey rolled her eyes lightly and replied, "Come on, as if you don't like that stuff too."

The argument would have continued, were it not for the fact that the computer finished booting up. Alan loaded up a communications program and began to dial a computer far away.

The process took no more than a few seconds to complete, for soon a familiar face showed up in the computer's window. "It's been awhile since we've spoken to one another."

Alan smirked and said, "I know, Izzy; been awhile since I had a reason to speak with you."

Izzy blinked and then asked, "And that reason is…?"

After showing the genius Digidestined the active Digivices, he nearly fell over in his chair. "When did that happen?!" he asked, his curiosity now piqued.

"Only a matter of minutes ago… something about the area must be different." Alan observed.

Izzy nodded and thought about this for a moment. "Hmmm… I'd sure like to get a good look at your Digivices and see what's going on. Could you hook yours up to your computer, Alan?"

Casey asked, "This isn't going to take long, is it?"

Izzy shook his head, "Of course not. I just want to run a few diagnostic tools and find out exactly what is going on."

Hearing the voice of his partner, Kunemon moved quickly into Izzy's lab. "Casey, it's good to see you again!"

Casey saw her partner and smiled. "It's nice to see you too, Weedle."

A slight angervein grew in Kunemon's head. "I AM NOT A…" Then, he realized that it was a joke on Casey's part. "Very funny…"

As Alan hooked up the Digivice to the computer's connectors, Izzy began to run some simple tests. "This won't take long…"

-Meanwhile, on the Digital Landscape of the Poké-World…-

A mysterious force, long ago forced into Sleep Mode, was beginning to react to the sudden influx of Digital Energy flowing into its area. It groaned from the foreign energy source, an energy which was now partly being re-routed into its own being.

A bunch of other figures flew through the area as well, unaware of the danger which was now threatening to wake up…

-Izzy's Lab, Pallet Town-

It wasn't often that Izzy was wrong about anything. But, he had been wrong about the speed with which he could look at the data from Alan's digivice. It had taken 10 whole minutes, which in Casey's world was a lifetime.

As he pressed a few final keystrokes, Casey got fed up. "How much longer is this going to take?!" She finally asked through the video-link, exasperated at the waiting.

Izzy was slightly taken aback at the tone which Casey used, but he smiled and said, "I'm done with yours, Alan. Casey, would you hook yours up next?"

Casey asked, "This isn't going to take as long, will it?"

Izzy shook his head, "I promise. I just need to compare the data which came from Alan's digivice."

Casey did as she was asked, and Izzy once more went to work typing at the computer.

-Back on the Digital Landscape…-

A second stream of energy passed through the area, and once again some of it was routed into the body of the mysterious creature which sat in the middle of nowhere. This second source of energy did it. It awoke and began to thrash about madly in some sort of containment field.

It roared loudly as it tried to break free to no avail. And then it saw some of the other creatures roaming the landscape. Immediately, it fired out what appeared to be prickly missiles. Once they hit the creatures, it was clear that they were viruses…

One glowed darkly and evolved, while the rest simply gathered around the cage. After a few moments, they tore off in the direction of the energy's flow.

-Back at Izzy's Lab-

Izzy finished looking at the data and nodded, approving of what he saw. "You can go ahead and disconnect your Digivice now, Casey."

"Thank goodness…" Casey said, disconnecting her device. In reality, the second half of testing had taken all of three minutes.

"And the results," Alan asked, hopeful for information of good news.

Izzy thought about how best to say it, and then started, "Your Digivices, for some reason I can't decipher, has enough energy now to operate at its most basic level. Not nearly enough to open a Digi-Port, but enough to run the Digivolution program… maybe." He stressed the last part of that sentence.

Casey looked more hopeful than ever, and asked, "Could I bring Kunemon here now? Would it be possible for him to survive?"

Kunemon also looked hopeful of the answer, but Izzy had to shoot them both down. "Have you ever been on the top of a really high mountain? It's pretty hard to breathe, and after awhile… well, you just can't survive any longer."

Casey looked a bit dejected at hearing that. "Oh…" was all she could manage.

Kunemon took it a bit better. "Relax, Casey. We'll figure out a way at some point for us to survive in that landscape. Until then, you have all your Pokémon to look after you."

From behind both trainers, Electrike barked proudly, as if to say, "You better believe it!"

"What do you believe it is, Izzy? An open Digi-Port," Alan asked of the genius.

Sometimes, even geniuses don't have all the answers. "I wish. If that had been the case, I think we would have found something about it by now." Izzy stated back.

Alan then had another idea, "What about a small tear?"

Izzy raised an eyebrow and asked, "I beg your pardon?"

Before this inherently geeky conversation could continue, though, a bunch of wild Pokémon noises filled the video-com.

"What in the heck was…" Before Alan could finish his thought, a bunch of Porygon shot out through Alan's computer and into the real world.

And on Izzy's end, his screen was filled with blackness, and a pair of evil eyes. Eyes so evil, in fact, that they made his hairs stand on end. He backed off, not even able to look at the screen with them in place.

When he came back, though, the link was dead.

-HoennDestined Campsite-

Ryo, Kyle and Josh were relaxing with all of Alan and Casey's Pokémon… well, almost all of them. Ryo had tried to get into Duel Monsters, but Kyle's experience had beaten him every time. Well, that and being able to summon out the Winged Dragon of Ra.

"You would have thought they would have been back by now…" Josh stated, looking off into the woods.

"Oh, relax," Kyle reassured the other trainer. "We both know that Alan and Casey can take care of themselves. They'll be back."

Ryo sighed and looked up the trail, "Don't you wish that sometimes Casey wasn't quite so unpredictable?"

Kyle scoffed and replied, "I don't think that's ever going to happen, Ryo. Maybe if she did…" He trailed off his sentence, not quite sure where he was going with it.

Birch, Alan's Zigzagoon came back with an Ultra Ball, which he piled on a small pile of goods, including a few Potions, Antidotes, and assorted goodies. "Oh, my master will be so happy…" Kendrix translated for the humans.

"QUIT CALLING HIM MASTER!!!" Alan's other Pokémon chimed.

"Oh…" Birch said sadly.

-Back in Fiery Forest-

The appearance of several Porygon had been quite the surprise to the two trainers. What had been even more surprising, though, was the aura of power which seemed to emanate off the virtual creatures.

Adding another layer of difficulty to the proceedings was the fact that these Porygon were being led by none other than a Porygon2.

"That's just great…" Alan observed. A point which was proved a moment later as one of them launched a Psybeam at Alan, throwing him backwards into a tree.

"Alan!" Casey yelled as she watched helplessly.

Alan groaned and then observed another fact, "It shouldn't… be that… strong."

Casey growled lightly, and then got hit hard herself, by a Discharge attack which sent her flying as well. "What is up with these Pokémon?"

Alan began to get up and stated, "I don't know. And I don't really care, either. They attacked us, they're going down."

It was five-on-two, which didn't exactly make for fair odds. The odds were about to get a bit more even, though, as Peter and Electrike, both scared off by the initial surge of Pokémon from the net, came back. Peter launched a powerful Flamethrower at one, while Electrike used Thundershock on another.

Naturally, these two attacks drew the attention of the appropriate Porygon, and each of the four soldiers took a different target and attacked.

Alan yelled out, "Crimson Lightning!" and went after the Porygon going after him. The attack wrapped around the Porygon which began to struggle, trying to break free, firing off energy attacks the whole time. Luckily, Alan was much better when he was in control, dodging these attacks with little problem.

Casey had none of these abilities, and was forced to basically try and dodge most of these beam attacks. She was getting a bit frustrated when another attack came from Electrike, this time a Bite right onto Porygon's torso. "That a way!" Casey encouraged her Pokémon.

Meanwhile, Peter was getting pissed that the Porygon he was facing refused to go down. So, he launched an even more powerful Flamethrower which actually singed the top of a couple of trees, but more importantly, burned the Pokémon badly.

Things had been going well for Alan, until Porygon began to thrash even harder, ripping and tearing at the whip which kept it tied up. Since that whip was tied to Alan's hand, his arm was taking a significant amount of damage, making Alan wince.

Making matters even worse, however, was the leader, Porygon2. It launched an Ice Beam attack directly at the whip, freezing it in both directions. The downside, as far as the Porygon were concerned, was that one of their own was frozen in a block of ice. The upside was that Alan's right arm was covered in ice as well, unable to let go of the whip soon enough.

This annoyed Alan to no end, and he quickly summoned, "Flame Saber!" in his left arm. Knowing that this wasn't going to be accurate at all, he swung at his arm, hoping to hit nothing but the ice and not damage his arm further.

Unfortunately, his instinct was right, and he ended up hitting his arm hard, causing him to wince again and fall to the ground.

"Alan!" came the call from Casey, now very concerned about her fellow Digidestined.

Alan cursed mentally, knowing very well that Porygon shouldn't be nearly as strong as these things were. The fourth member of the Porygon squad floated behind Alan and prepared to use Signal Beam to knock out the teen.

Casey yelled, "Watch out!" trying to alert him to the danger at hand. It would have been too late even with this warning. But, that Porygon never got the chance to fire off its attack, slammed into by a small yellow streak, knocking it off-balance and sending the Signal Beam into mid-air.

Alan looked behind him as the streak settled in position. It turned out to be a Pichu who had attacked the Porygon.

Casey looked confused, but as a Porygon prepared to use Discharge, a second Pichu came into the picture in exactly the same way. The only difference was that the Discharge hit this Pichu, causing some minor damage in the process.

'Seems we're not too late to join in on the fun,' the male Pichu said to the female one.

The female one chimed in, 'And a good thing, too. I don't think I could have watched this any longer.'

The Porygon squadron, after use of Recover to remove most of the damage inflicted upon them so far, lined up in front of the five beings, each preparing to fire off an attack.

It was then that Alan noticed that Porygon2 seemed to hang back from the rest of the party, almost as if it were some kind of leader of this group. Granted, it wouldn't have been surprising, since Porygon2 was the evolved form of Porygon.

But, as they fired off their attacks, Signal Beam, Psybeam, Discharge and Secret Power, Alan leapt in front again and yelled out, "Crimson Lightning!" He once more summoned the whip of energy and thought to himself, ~I know I'm going to regret this…~

Turned out he was right again as he spun the whip around and around like a helicopter blade in front of him, hoping to deflect some of the attacks. It worked wonders with Psybeam, which wasn't entirely surprising given the Dark vs. Psychic match-up.

Against the other three attacks, though… not so good. Discharge and Secret Power were kind of deflected by the defensive maneuver, but each had a different unintended side-effect. Secret Power's energy thorns ended up missing everyone behind Alan, but instead several slammed into his laptop, taking it out of commission.

"Damn!" Alan yelled out as he continued to twirl the whip. The third attack, Discharge, was more of an area-of-effect attack, so it was a lot harder to deflect. Instead, all the Crimson Lightning defense could do was lessen the amount of electricity which came through, giving all five of them a fairly nasty shock, but nothing too bad.

Casey, though, was already tired, and this sent her staggering back into a tree. Electrike, suddenly very worried, yipped, 'Are you all right?'

It said a lot for Casey's bond with her Pokémon that she was able to remotely understand her partner in this battle. "I'll be fine, little buddy."

As the fourth attack hit home, Crimson Lightning was completely worthless in deflection, as the Bug-type was strong against the Dark-type. Signal Beam hit Alan square in the gut and sent him behind the Pokémon's "line of defense".

It was frustrating to be turned back with every move they made. Peter shared that frustration and shot out another Flamethrower. And, again, it hit its intended target, the four Porygon protecting the Porygon2. But, like before, the Porygon shook off the attack with a shot of Recover.

Alan, starting to realize the hopelessness of the situation, sat back near the wounded Casey. "So, I guess this is it, huh?"

Casey shook her head and tried to get up, but winced on her way up. "No way… I'm not going to let a bunch of glorified computer programs get the best of me…"

Alan sighed and asked, "Then what is it you intend to do? Every time we attack, they heal themselves and come right back at us. We don't exactly have regenerative capabilities ourselves…"

Hearing a lack of passion in Alan's voice made Casey very surprised, and a bit sad. She flopped back down on the ground and sighed, "I really don't know… I don't want this to be the end… there's so much more I have to do…"

A dark chuckle came from Alan as he asked, "You mean like marrying Kyle, for example?"

"He'll come around…" Casey insisted, though her own feelings were in doubt of that fact.

Electrike, feeling a deep desire to protect his master, triggered the Digivice, which began to ring out of Casey's pocket. She grabbed the device, which was now glowing brightly.

Electrike felt the energy coming from deep inside the device, and then began to glow as well. An astonished Casey and Alan looked on as it happened.

"Electrike digivolve to… Manectric!" The smaller creature was replaced by its natural evolution.

This digivolution brought some of Casey's lost energy back and she yelled out, "Now we'll show you who's boss!"

Manectric knew better, his stamina being drained off rapidly to maintain the form he was in now. He had one shot, and he had to make it count.

'Thunder,' Manectric shouted in its own language. A gigantic bolt of lightning struck the mountain, and the enemy in the process.

-HoennDestined Campsite-

Josh, Ryo and Kyle looked up the mountain and immediately began to get worried. "What on earth was that?!" Kyle asked, a small amount of panic in his voice.

Josh asked, "What happened to 'they can take care of themselves'?"

Ryo shook his head and replied, "This is much different than it was before. We need to go."

Kendrix blocked the way with her wing and shook her head. :Allow me to go. I will find out what is going on with Alan and Casey.:

Tommy jumped up and added, "I'm coming with you!"

Kendrix shook her head again. :No. It would be much easier if I went alone. Stay here, in case something happens while I am gone.:

Begrudgingly, Tommy sat down again and Kendrix took off. :I will be back soon.: She flew in the direction of the forest.

-Back in the Forest-

Fiery Forest was finally living up to its name, as Manectric had done what Peter could not: set the place on fire. But, on the bright side, the four Porygon were down for the count, each one having been shocked hard by Manectric's massive blow.

But, annoyingly, Porygon2 had come out of the attack unscathed. It was upset at seeing all of its comrades go down, and proceeded to ram Manectric. The result was two-fold. Porygon2 was paralyzed from Manectric's Static, and Casey's Pokémon Partner went flying, de-digivolving back to Electrike.

Casey tried to get up again, but the electricity still buzzing through her system kept her from being able to do anything but sit there and do nothing. The heat from the fire was starting to get to her.

Alan knew this, and so decided to take a serious chance on a powerful move. "Fire Saber!" He called forth the sword of flame once again, and his right arm began to burn with the same intensity that the blade did.

Porygon2 stared right at Alan, as if to tell him to bring it. It used Lock-On to concentrate exclusively on the young man in front of it.

But, before Alan could take off, the male Pichu leapt onto the blade of the sword. The sword created burns on the Pichu's feet, but he really didn't seem to care. A snicker followed from Alan and he asked, "As stubborn as I am, huh?" The Pichu nodded to Alan, and concentrated on Porygon2 as well.

After a second or two of psyching himself up, Alan roared out and charged directly at Porygon2. As he approached, the first-stage Virtual Pokémon launched Zap Cannon directly at Alan. He definitely felt the pain as he ran through the attack's blast, but kept right on going.

It is a long held tenant of Pokémon Trainers that one cannot suffer from two major status conditions at the same time. This probably served to explain why Alan avoided sure-fire paralysis, with his arm burning badly.

Porygon2 wasn't ready for this surprise, and it also wasn't ready for the pain to come. Alan slashed several times at the creature, while Pichu utilized Volt Tackle, taking large chunks of stamina with each new hit.

After about 20 seconds of this massacre, the creature was finally forced to do the one thing it didn't want to: retreat from the battlefield. It did this by leaping back into the screen of Alan's laptop, even though the power wasn't working. They would be able to return to the net when it was working again.

The remainder followed suit as Alan flopped down on the ground from pure exhaustion. "At least… we'll have gone out… fighting…" He fainted from exertion, as did Pichu.

The fire continued to burn around them, and with Peter and the female Pichu being the only ones still active, they both tended to their respective humans. It was then that a pair of figures showed up.

One threw out a Poké Ball, releasing a creature which began to douse the flames around them. The other quickly gained the trust of the two Pokémon and began to tend to the humans in a more direct manner, knowing that work needed to be done quickly.

-Back at Izzy's Lab-

Izzy had been trying desperately to get in contact with Alan ever since the video-link gave out. Finally, he got some good news, an e-mail from Alan's laptop. "Thank goodness for that…"

Ken, who had since come by for an unrelated reason, but was here now to help him figure out this mess, asked, "What? What happened?"

"I finally got an e-mail from the computer. Looks like it took some serious damage from a stray attack. Luckily, the self-repair functions will mean it'll be up and running again in a half-hour." Izzy told him, voice clearly happy.

Ken nodded slowly and said, "That's good… I guess."

Then a voice came from behind both of them. "Yes, but I fear the worst is yet to come for them."

Both boys screamed and turned around to see Mewtwo floating there. "Don't do things like that!" Izzy screamed.

Mewtwo looked at Izzy and stated, "I apologize, but there is a much greater force behind the attack of the Porygon. If I'm right, they could be in grave danger."

Izzy asked, "But how do we know if it is what you're thinking it is?"

Mewtwo shook its head and answered, "There is no way to know for certain, as none of those creatures appear to have been caught."

Ken sighed, "Great. Just what we need, another force of darkness assaulting the world."

Izzy added, "The only difference is that this time, we can't help them due to the hostile environment of Hoenn."

Mewtwo thought about this and stated, "Maybe not… but telling those two about what they're up against might still be helpful…"

-30 Minutes Later, Alan's Laptop-

The computer finished its self-repair cycle, and the gateway back onto the Poké-World computer network opened back up. The Porygon had found some data left over from Izzy's diagnostic tests which they found interesting, data on the Digital Plane, so they copied it and took it back with them to their master…

-Several hours later, 8:00 P.M.-

A campfire burned in the middle of a clearing in the forest. On one side of the fire, the two figures who had shown up out of the blue earlier; on the other, Casey and Alan, both wrapped up in their sleeping bags.

It was into this scene that Casey jolted out of sleep. At first, she was completely freaked out, being wrapped up in her sleeping bag and all. But, a soothing voice would enter her head. :It's okay, Casey. Everything's going to be fine.:

Casey recognized Kendrix's manner immediately and calmed down. "What happened?"

Kendrix responded, :You would have been toast, were it not for a couple of others who showed up not long after you two fainted, from what I heard.:

As if on cue, a voice rang out, "Are you okay?"

Casey recognized it and immediately tried to jump to her feet. "You!" Unfortunately, her attempt ended up with her landing on her face, the sleeping bag getting in the way of any sort of agility she was attempting to show.

As one figure stepped out from the shadows to assist Casey, it was clear that it was James of Team Rocket. "Don't get up so fast, all you'll do is hurt yourself." He said in a strange sage-like manner.

Casey, however, wasn't buying it, at least not immediately. "What's your angle?" She asked as she was turned right-side up again.

Instead of James, Kendrix answered Casey's concern. :There is no angle. He heard the fight from afar and separated from Jessie and Meowth in order to assist you.:

James added to this, "I would have helped more, but I have enough problems with regular Pokémon, much less a group of floating digital threats."

Casey nodded lightly and looked down. "I see…" She wasn't nearly as surprised as she thought she'd be. After all, if what Kyle had told her about his experiences with him in a Mauville jail were true…

Then another thought occurred to her. "You said there were two people who helped us out, right Kendrix?"

A second boy, with darker purple hair, stepped out from the shadows and stated, "That's right."

Almost immediately, Casey began to have some senses of déjà vu didn't say anything about those feelings at the moment. Instead, she simply asked, "Is that right?"

The young boy nodded. "While James here was assuring that the two of you, and your Pokémon, didn't get burned badly, I was busy putting out the fire which would have engulfed this forest in a matter of minutes."

Casey nodded lightly and began to think to herself. James snapped his fingers, suddenly remembering something. "That's right." He pulled out a couple of Cheri Berries and a Sitrus Berry. "Eat this. This will help you regain your strength."

As hesitant as Casey might have been under normal circumstances, in this instance she took the berries and quickly scarfed them down.

The other boy suddenly had an epiphany of his own. "Oh, how silly of me. I haven't even introduced myself." With a smile, he said, "Call me Victor."

Casey swallowed the berries, and then began to look around for Alan. He was situated not far from where Casey was, sleeping. "Is he…?"

Kendrix interrupted the question, :He'll be fine. He just needs some time to sleep it off is all.:

Casey nodded lightly, and then turned her attention to Victor. "You didn't put out a forest fire all on your own, did you?"

Victor laughed lightly and shook his head. "Of course not." Grabbing a Poké Ball, he shouted, "Go, Tempest!"

Another wave of déjà vu hit Casey when she heard that name. The wave went away when Tempest turned out to be a Blastoise. It didn't quite match the style of the person she was thinking of.

Far in the past, Casey loved someone not named Kyle Evanick. It was someone named Marty, but he turned out to be not quite what he seemed, when he turned out to be a Myotisdramon. She and Kunemon had to defeat him, and it made her wary for awhile to allow anyone else into the same area.

She did with Kyle, though. But so far, he had yet to return the feeling. It was a slight improvement on the situation with Marty, largely because Kyle had yet to try and kill her. Also, she felt she could still bring Kyle around eventually. But Victor…

A minute or so later, James asked Peter and Electrike, "Take care of everyone, all right?"

Peter yelled out, 'You bet!' Casey still wasn't quite used to Kendrix's translation abilities, so it startled her. Electrike simply barked.

"If you think I'm going to simply go to sleep with you around, you've got another think coming!" Casey yelled out, almost accusing James of something he could do.

James chuckled and stated, "I'm not going to stick around anyway. I've got to get back to the others… they'll worry about me, otherwise." He began to walk off from the scene.

Victor got up and said, "I've got to get moving, at least for a little while. I'm going to bring the rest of my stuff from my camp, so I'll be back in time for breakfast."

Casey pouted slightly, but was perfectly fine with the scenario as it stood, because it meant that she would spend a bit more time with Victor.

After both boys left the campsite behind, Kendrix looked right at Casey and said, :I'd watch out, if I were you. I can't read Victor that well, and from past experience, that's not a good sign.:

Casey rolled her eyes and pointedly argued, "You just like getting into people's heads, Kendrix."

:Maybe so, but it doesn't take a Psychic-type to figure out what you're thinking about with regards to Victor.: Kendrix observed.

Casey blushed lightly and then looked down at the ground. :Relax… what you're thinking is no one else's business, until you decide to make it their business.: Kendrix reassured the young lady.

Casey smiled and said, "Thank you."

Kendrix then flapped her mighty wings and began to take off. :I'm going to let everyone else know what's going on. But, I feel… uneasy leaving you two alone. I'll be back in the morning.:

Casey accepted that, and laid down to try to sleep, Electrike cuddling up next to her.

-Meanwhile, on the Digital Landscape-

The Porygon squadron had delivered the information to Missingno inside its cage. It saw an opportunity like no other emerge before it. If it could find a way to access more Digital Energy, it could force its way out of this accursed confinement and wreak havoc on the world.

But, for now, it needed more helpers. Luckily, the Porygon squadron's presence had lured five more of the critters, curious as to the reason of their gathering. Another pelting of Digital Virus later, and they were under Missingno's control.

Making matters even worse, though, was the fact that one of those Porygon underwent an evolution…

-The Next Morning-

After a long 16-hour sleep, Alan finally woke up with a throbbing headache. "What happened…?" He asked no one in particular.

Surprisingly, someone answered, "Got knocked out, slept it off for 16 hours, the works."

Alan didn't recognize the voice, and was immediately on guard as he began to get up and look at the purple-haired boy before him cooking breakfast over the campfire.

He was expecting it, though. "You can call me Victor. If it weren't for me and my Pokémon, you might be nothing more than a smoldering pile of ashes now."

Alan didn't appreciate the insinuation, but he nodded lightly. "Thanks, I guess." Then his nose got a whiff of what Victor was cooking. "I wish I could cook like that… everything I make ends up toast." In his mind, he was thinking, ~Maybe if I knew how to cook, it'd be easier to find a girl…~

Casey, who had been up and about for an hour prior to Alan's awakening, came onto the scene, and smiled when she saw Alan awake. Subconsciously, she walked over and hugged Alan. "I'm so glad you're okay. I was afraid…" She trailed off, not quite sure where exactly she was going with this.

Alan, who was surprised to see Casey show such emotion, smiled and returned the hug. "As you can see, I'm all right."

Victor finished cooking breakfast made up of eggs and bacon, and served it up to the two trainers. "Eat up, both of you. You need to get your strength back after that battle last night."

There was no point in arguing, so they ate. Along the way, Alan asked about the condition of the two Pichu who had fought alongside them the previous day. They were sleeping, and miraculously, the male Pichu had avoided being burned by Alan's Fire Saber.

The subject then changed to Alan's laptop, which had suffered during the fight. Luckily, the self-repair functions had worked to perfection, and there was barely any sign of the Secret Power attack.

It wasn't until after breakfast, and Victor had parted ways with a newly rejuvenated Alan and Casey that something occurred to the young man. "What if that Thunder attack fried the laptop?"

Fearing the worst, Alan flipped open the computer and turned it on. Much to his relief, it made the standard start-up noise and booted up. After a moment, Casey then asked, "What about our Pokédexes and Digivices?"

For exactly the same reason, both trainers checked their sensitive electronics. The Digivices had come off no worse for wear. Not surprising since they were designed to handle anything a Digimon could throw at them. The Pokédexes were still functional, but the massive electric storm had wiped out the memory on the devices. Not a huge deal, since they had the sense to back-up said memory in Mauville.

It was when the two of them checked their Poké Balls that things weren't so hot. Most of the Poké Balls on both belts were completely fried, with fortunate exception to Peter and Electrike's Poké Balls.

Casey sighed, "Great… that's just great. And there's not a Poké Mart for miles."

Alan thought and then mused, "If only I'd brought Birch with me… he'd be able to find stuff like that lickedy-split."

Breaking up this train of thought was the sound of the phone on Alan's computer. "Izzy calling," it chimed out.

"On screen," Alan commanded his device. A second later, Izzy's face filled the screen, and a visible sigh of relief came from the redhead.

"Thank goodness the two of you are all right." Izzy stated, hoping that things weren't too bad.

Alan winced as he rotated his right arm, still damaged from the previous day's events. "A little worse for wear, but we're okay."

Izzy's face then grew serious. "Listen, both of you. There might be a significant danger to you two if you don't watch out."

Casey, not liking the cryptic stuff, yelled out, "Spill it, Izzy! What's going on?"

The familiar voice of the Guardian of the West began to come through the computer. "I am here now, trying to determine exactly that."

Alan groaned and then replied, "I don't like it when you show up… it always means bad news."

Mewtwo paused for a moment, and then continued, "I wish I could say that this was going to be any different. But, it won't."

With both Digidestined now at full attention, Mewtwo asked a very simple question. "Tell me, have either of you heard the legend of Missingno?"

At hearing the word, Alan's face went ghost-white. It was immediately clear that he had to both Casey and to Izzy on the other end. Casey looked at Alan and asked, "Is there something wrong? What is Missingno?"

Alan didn't say anything, as if even uttering the word was some kind of taboo. Mewtwo continued, "Allow me to fill in the gaps. Long ago, back when the Poké-World Computer Network was still young, there were those who sought to be able to do more with it. Bill, Lanette and Bebe were chief among them."

The young British trainer then found the courage to speak, "They eventually found a way for the Digital Plane of the computer network to meet with the spiritual plane, which was how they eventually developed Porygon and its ilk."

Mewtwo nodded lightly and continued, "When those two planes, which should never have collided, met for the first time, an entity was born, one which couldn't be captured by any Poké Ball; hence why its name became Missingno, for Missing Number."

Izzy continued the conversation, "According to what Mewtwo told me, this creature can corrupt any Digital entity in existence, forcing them to fight for it, and simultaneously granting said 'corruptions' additional power."

Casey frowned and nodded, "That would explain the power those Porygon seemed to have."

Mewtwo paused again, thinking about what Casey had just said, and then continued his story. "The early scientists thought they were going to lose access to the computer network forever. But then another scientist, by the name of Celio, found a way to install a program into Missingno, draining it of the Digital Energy it so craved. He then sealed the creature in the deepest part of the 'Net, hoping it would never come to light again."

For Alan, the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place. "It feeds only on Digital Energy, you said?"

"That is correct," Mewtwo confirmed.

Alan sighed and then stated what was now obvious. "It was us who woke it up. So… it must be us who stops it for good."

"Don't be so hasty, guys! Think about it! The two of you against a powerful entity that not even the greatest trainer could ever catch? That would be suicide!" Izzy explained to the two of them.

Casey had been thinking for a good minute or so, and then sighed. "We don't have a choice. Something around here is causing the Digital Energy to flow. And, we can't bring along the boys… between Blade, Charmeleon and Tommy…"

Alan winced physically when he thought of what Missingno could do with the digital aspects of these three Pokémon, and then sighed. "Looks like Casey is right."

"But…" Izzy yelled out, but was interrupted.

"Relax, Izzy. We'll find a way to defeat this threat. I'm not about to let some legend from the past beat us." Casey said, enthusiastic as ever.

Alan wasn't nearly as sure as Casey was, his mind still trying to come to grips with the fact that they would soon be faced with the mighty creature.

As hesitant as Izzy was to let them go, he knew that they were right. With the situation as it stood, they were the only ones who could beat them. "All right… but contact me if you get into serious trouble. I don't know what I can do, but I'll figure out something."

The two Pichu woke up, and yawned cutely, looking at the two humans again, before one leapt onto Alan's shoulder, and the other onto Casey's.

Alan was temporarily comforted by the smaller Pokémon, and then asked another question of the genius. "There is one thing you can do for us. Is there some way we can register these Pokémon as ours without having access to Poké Balls?"

Izzy nodded, typed some things into his computer, and then asked for the two Dexes to be hooked up. Sending some temporary data, Izzy allowed them to scan the twin Pichu, who were excited about the opportunity, and allow them to be "claimed" as theirs straightaway.

The data was one-time use only, a necessary feature to prevent Casey and Alan from getting the idea of becoming Pokémon poachers or something like that, but the overall upgrade to the scanner's functionality remained, allowing for scanning of even the most unknown Pokémon.

"Is it possible to fix our broken Poké Balls as well?" Alan asked.

Izzy thought about it, and then decided, "I can at least try." And try he did. But, the success rate was rather limited. He was only able to really repair one, which wasn't enough to carry the two Pichu.

"Sorry, guys. The technology is pretty amazing, but I don't think I can do anything with those. They're completely fried." Izzy had to admit.

Casey sighed and threw them into the woods. "Thanks a lot…"

The two Pichu, on a complete and total whim, leapt down from their shoulders and began to yell out. "Pichu! Pichu!"

Alan blinked and turned to the two of them. "What is it?"

The two of them began to run down a path. Casey turned to Alan and said, "I think they want us to follow them…"

Alan turned back to the computer and said, "Gotta run."

Izzy nodded. "Understood… don't forget. Contact me if you need to."

Both trainers nodded, and then Alan cut off the connection. Quickly gathering their things, and recalling their two sleeping Pokémon, Electrike and Peter, they took off after the Pichu.

-Along the path-

Having caught up with the two energetic Pokémon, Alan and Casey now followed quietly behind the two of them. "How are we going to get the others not to follow us?" Casey asked Alan, still worried about the possibilities.

Alan thought for a moment, and then said, "We'll find a way."

Luckily, they did. Not far outside the place the Pichu were taking them, they found a Pelipper, which looked like it was equipped with a bag of sorts.

While Casey wondered why a Pelipper would have a bag, Alan saw it as an opportunity. "We can use its help to tell the others."

Casey looked at Alan like he had grown another head, but he nodded back to her and then wrote a note on a piece of paper and turned to the large pelican. "Could you please take this to our friends? They're at a camp at the base of this mountain." He also showed a picture of Kyle, Josh and Ryo to the Pelipper so that it knew what to look for.

Sensing Alan's desire to set things right, it squawked, and then took Alan's letter before taking off.

"Are you sure it's going to be able to find the others?" Casey asked.

Alan smirked and then said, "I've got some insurance."

Casey looked confused for a moment, which caused Alan to sigh a bit. "Look, you said Kendrix is coming back. Pelipper is bound to pass her in mid-air. She will be able to tell it where our friends are."

Casey's face brightened just a bit, as the idea dawned on her. "Oh…"

The two Pichu began to yell loudly and pointed enthusiastically toward a clearing just ahead. "That must be where they wanted to take us."

Both trainers stepped forward… and then almost immediately had to jump backwards as a massive thunderbolt struck the ground in front of them. "Leave… now." A mysterious voice commanded the two humans.

Alan got into a fighting stance and prepared to fight. Casey pulled out Electrike's Poké Ball and prepared to launch him into the fray. The figure to whom the voice belonged came out of the shadows and revealed itself to be a creature which looked like a Raichu… sort of. It was definitely colored like a Raichu, but looked more dangerous and feral. Scales covered its body in several places.

Even for someone who had seen dimensions worth of odd things, it was a strange sight to behold. But, before a fight could even begin, the two Pichu ran up to the stranger and began to plead their case.

'They helped us take on the Porygon! You have to let them through!' The male Pichu argued.

The "Dragon Mouse" sighed and asked, "And just what were the two of you thinking about, leaving the safety of the colony? Now you've gone and exposed it to two outsiders."

The female Pichu asked, 'We know they're safe, and won't harm us, so we should let them in!'

Once again, the leader sighed, and then turned to a small white Pokémon with a green hat. "What do you think, Ralts?"

Ralts looked at the two of them, and then spoke telepathically. :I sense a lot of enthusiasm from the girl, but no ill intent. And from the boy, I sense plenty of conflicting emotions. But, again, no ill intent. They might be safe to enter the Colony, Ryuchu.:

Ryuchu still wasn't so sure, but then a loud noise came from the air as a large bird began to descend. "Kendrix!" Alan shouted out happily.

:I am here for you.: She replied back to her partner.

Once more, Ryuchu tensed up and prepared for battle. But, Kendrix had other ideas, using her telepathic powers to show the creature what Ralts had said: that neither human served as a threat to them.

It was only after this maneuver that Ryuchu finally calmed. "All right, you can enter the Colony. But, no telling ANYONE about this place!"

Alan nodded and then re-assured him. "Don't worry, the only people who we could tell are going away from this place, largely thanks to one of your Pelipper."

Casey then asked the question which had been nibbling at her for the last five minutes or so. "How is it you're able to talk?"

Ryuchu's response was quick. "I was once a Digimon, who was forced into this world by some kind of tear in the Digital Badlands."

Alan asked, "What were you doing there?"

Ryuchu shrugged, "Can't remember, it's been too long. Probably trying to get away from someone or another… anyway, I got away, and came here. I didn't think I would survive. But, fortunately, I was able to find some way to digivolve and become what I am now."

Casey smiled and remarked, "That's pretty neat."

"Why, thank you." Ryuchu said with a smile. "In any case, further up, at the top of this place, which we call Thunder Hill Colony, there is a small remnant of that tear, spilling out a very small amount of Digital Energy."

Both humans looked at one another and nodded, an explanation to the Digivice's activation finally being achieved.

-5 Minutes Later, HoennDestined Campsite-

As the three of them packed up their things, Kyle looked at the note again and shook his head. "Doesn't anyone else find it odd that Alan and Casey would tell us to move on by using a borrowed Pelipper?"

Ryo shrugged and said, "If they want us to move on without them, we should move on without them. End of story."

Tommy argued against that point, "But what if they're in trouble?"

Josh sighed and asked, "And what if they are? Don't you think that Kendrix would have done something else if she thought we'd be necessary?"

Tommy thought about it, and then shook his head. "I still don't like it."

Ryo looked at the eager Charmander and asked, "Exactly what choice do we have? We could go wandering aimlessly and look for them. Or we could let Kendrix find us when they're done."

Neither Josh nor Kyle could find fault with that argument, and so after retrieving all of Alan's Pokémon into Poké Balls, including the reluctant Tommy, they set off to the west, heading for the path.

Josh looked at the mountain and said, "I get the strange feeling we're missing out on something…"

"I'm sure we'll find something to do once we get there." Ryo said, trying to re-assure his friend.

-30 minutes later, Thunder Hill-

Alan tested his right arm, and winced, still unable to get it entirely right. "Can't you use your left arm to use your techniques?" Casey asked.

Alan sighed and said, "I wish I could trust it. I used my left arm to unfreeze my right during the first fight, and it didn't exactly go to plan."

Casey shook her head and said, "We'll figure out a way."

Without their knowledge, the Digital Energy of the area was being fed into Alan's computer, and onto the 'net, causing the tear to grow slightly…

-Digital Landscape-

Missingno took in energy in that small trickling, and began to grow in power. As the Porygon squadron watched from close-up, the containment field began to show cracks as the mighty creature was finally beginning to regain its former glory.

Just a matter of three minutes exposed to this small stream of energy, in fact, and Missingno burst forth, roaring.

Using its swarm of insects, it waved the Porygon squadron on, and flew in the direction of the energy flow.

-30 seconds later, Thunder Hill-

Suddenly, and without warning, Alan's computer booted up, and he blinked and pulled it out of his pack. "That's odd… I didn't turn it on." He mused to Casey.

"What do you think is going on?" Casey asked, curious as to why that would have happened.

"I don't know…" Alan opened the computer, which was a huge mistake, for out of the screen flew the enemies: 4 Porygon, a strange creature which looked sort of like a crazy Porygon, and the ghost bug swarm which formed Missingno.

Casey was obviously startled when the creatures flew out, and she fell backwards. Alan, however, was completely terrified. Admittedly, so was Kendrix, who had heard plenty of bad things about this thing to know better than to underestimate it.

"Go, Electrike!" Casey yelled, throwing out her only Pokémon partner. Electrike came out, and then growled at the enemy in front of it.

Alan was even too scared to call out Peter from his Poké Ball. Lucky, then, that his Pichu did the job for him. 'Come on! I'll take him!' Peter said with a lot of confidence, being unaware of the legends surrounding the beast.

Too bad for him, then, that Alan and Kendrix were both frozen in fear. Casey turned around to her companion and yelled out, "This is no time to freeze up, Alan! We've got to fight now!"

As Missingno flew overhead, ignoring the two humans, it situated itself over the pool of water Ryuchu had told them earlier the Digital Tear originated from. Then, visibly, it began to draw the energy into itself, streams of energy flowing into its being.

'Come on, Sex!' The female Pichu called out to her counterpart.

'I'm right behind you, Violence!' The male yelled.

In retrospect, when Kendrix finally got around to telling them these two names, both Digidestined would groan at the irony of their given names.

For now, though, with Alan still out of it, Casey knew she would have to carry the load for now.

"Let's go, Electrike! We're not going to let a bunch of computer programs beat us!" Casey yelled confidently.

Electrike barked, 'Right!' before launching itself into the fray. One Porygon felt the force of a Bite attack, while another quickly felt his anger in the form of a Shock Wave.

Surprisingly, the latter did far more damage than it should have, largely due to the atmospheric disturbances empowering Electric-types, nearly knocking out one Porygon immediately.

Meanwhile, Sex and Violence ran toward the pool and the creature floating overhead. It took them a moment to figure out what they were going to do, but finally, Sex yelled, 'Get behind me and start running!'

It took a moment for Violence to get the idea, but she smirked and nodded. Getting a few feet behind her friend, she ran as fast as she could, and then leapt onto Sex. He, in turn, launched her into the air and directly into Missingno.

As she flew directly through the mysterious creature, Violence used Volt Tackle, creating a massive amount of electricity. Missingno took a good deal of damage, shrieking as a number of its swarm were wiped out instantly.

Almost as if on cue, the strange Porygon flew and intercepted Violence on the way down, sending her into the pool of water below.

'Violence!' Sex yelled out.

The female Pichu reached the surface before long, and was immediately met by a very strange phenomenon. The Porygon which had hit it had since turned yellow, and launched Discharge directly into the pool of water.

Being in contact with the the water meant that Violence had no chance to escape the attack. 'Ack!' Violence yelled out, clearly in pain. The only real good news here was that she took less damage than someone else might have, being an Electric-type Pokémon.

Back on the other side of the battlefield, Casey, Electrike and Peter continued to face down the Porygon squadron. Like the one which faced them before, each member of this squadron knew different moves, and used them in tandem.

Peter yelled, 'Take this!' as he launched a Shock Wave at one of the Porygon. Electrike followed with one of his own in rapid succession.

It wasn't quite enough, but a third Shock Wave launched from Ryuchu was. Casey smiled lightly. "Ryuchu!" she yelled out.

Ryuchu growled at the Porygon and said, "I don't know what the heck you guys are doing here, but you have got to go!"

Missingno could feel additional adversity coming from nearby, and so sent out a telepathic order, remaining perfectly still over the growing Digital Tear.

The creature, having finished with Violence, flew back to the main battle to join it. Sex, meanwhile, was trying to fish out her friend with a convenient stick. 'Grab on!' He shouted out to her.

Violence was struggling largely because she had been hit with an enormous shock. 'I'm trying!' She told her companion.

Back with the main conflict, Casey finally thought they would gain the upper hand. She couldn't have been more wrong as the strange Porygon returned to the field of battle, joined by another Porygon from the net.

"Is there no end to these things?" She asked no one in particular, seeing that Alan was still dumbstruck.

Then, as if to answer her question, another Porygon joined the fray, lining up on Ryuchu's side of the battlefield and taking a position to begin fighting. Casey groaned, but another one would soon follow as she finally pulled out her Pokédex to look at the strange new Porygon, "Porygon-Z, the Virtual Pokémon. This Pokémon was designed to work in alien environments. It did not work as planned."

Porygon-Z, almost as if it were being cued by the chiming Pokédex, glowed brightly and turned itself into a bright blue version of itself. 'What the heck was that?' Peter asked.

'I have no idea…' Electrike responded.

The answer, however, came quickly when it launched Ice Beam directly at Electrike. He saw it and tried to bound out of the way. However, he was less than successful, and was caught in an instant ice cube.

Peter was having none of that, though, and used Flamethrower to melt away the ice while harming Casey's friend as little as possible. 'Thanks, I owe you one.' Electrike told Peter.

'Just put it on your tab,' Peter answered sarcastically.

The time for humor would be over a few seconds later when, after another transformation to a purple tinge, Porygon-Z launched Psybeam at Casey directly and sent her flying to the ground, and then she slid dangerously close to the edge of the lake where the Digital Tear continued to grow.

Strangely, this act is what finally snapped Alan out of his daze, as he watched Casey, and realized, ~What a damned fool I was. Here is Casey, who is nowhere near as strong as I am, with a Pokémon nowhere near as strong as it can be, and she's fighting against this evil force with everything she has! What's the only thing I can do? Sit back and watch because I was too scared to fight? That's pathetic! There's only one thing to do. Fight until I can't fight anymore.~

Kendrix heard this entire conversation in Alan's head, and sighed to herself as well. :I'm just as guilty as you are. I let myself get carried away in thinking about the 'what ifs', when I should have been concentrating on how we're going to win.:

As Casey got up, legs bloodied from the skid along the rocky ground, she ran back to the battlefield. "We need to give it everything we've got! Otherwise, we'll never succeed."

"You're absolutely right." A voice from behind her called out.

Casey turned around and saw Alan up. He didn't have his usual air of confidence about him, but at least he wasn't scared stiff. "What took you so long?" Casey asked, slightly miffed.

"I don't know what came over me, but it's over now." He summoned the Crimson Lightning whip and smirked before launching it at Porygon-Z. Despite the fact that it should have been a Normal-type, it appeared to be in great pain from the whip's attack.

Kendrix analyzed the situation from inside her Poké Ball, and then frowned lightly. :Alan, this Porygon has an ability called Adaptability, something Missingno took advantage of. Now it can change types at will and gain attacks for that type.:

The advice came a little bit late, for the computer-generated foe turned into a Bug-type, and then launched Signal Beam, doing as it had in the earlier battle and forcing Alan to cough up a bit of blood as it hit him in the gut.

"That's annoying," Alan observed as he prepared for another attack.

On the other side of the battle, Ryuchu leapt away from one attack after another, using its speed and the natural advantages the Colony's location provided to strategically attack the enemy, nailing weak points with surprising frequency.

The two Porygon Ryuchu fought were constantly mixing their attacks to try and produce a result which would defeat their foe, but every time that happened, Ryuchu was able to anticipate and counter.

A large part of this reason was Ralts hidden in the bushes, reading the minds of the two Porygon, or at least their modified programming.

Sadly, though, most of the Porygon were equipped with Recover, which made knocking them out a chore at best, and impossible at worst, as in the case of Porygon-Z.

All the while, the Tear was growing, and with it, the hole between dimensions. Storm clouds began to spread as the disturbances in the atmosphere were beginning to spread. Ryo and his team had their back to the battle, so they were somehow blissfully unaware of the major conflict going on behind them.

Alan launched Hand of Fate using his left arm, not wanting to tax his injured right arm any further. What ended up happening, though, was that he sacrificed power for accuracy, not wanting to accidentally hit Casey, Peter or Electrike. The light-based attack did a good amount of damage to Porygon-Z.

He immediately followed that up with a combat yell and, "Fire Saber!" Porygon-Z changed back into Normal-type and launched Tri Attack, sending the three triangles directly at Alan.

Alan parried the attack using the Fire Saber and struggled to send it flying elsewhere. Unfortunately, luck was not on Alan's side, and the saber began to freeze over as a result of Tri Attack's special ability. "Damn it all!" Alan yelled as he threw away the sword and proceeded to use a flying kick to knock Porygon-Z off-balance.

Electrike used Thunder, sending a massive Thunderbolt into the midst of the enemy, scattering the Porygon.

Two of them were knocked out by the attack, having been the closest to the attack's epicenter. But, true to form, two more came out to replace them from Alan's connection to the network.

Casey was beginning to feel that things were completely hopeless, as she had no idea how many more there were left.

-Meanwhile, high above Thunder Hill-

Two pink figures watched the fight below. "If we don't do something quickly, this will get out of control, and the balance of the worlds will be thrown off." One of the figures said to the other.

"We can't allow that to happen, can we Ann?" The other pink one asked.

The first one nodded back to the other. "We certainly can't, Claire."

Both flew down toward the Colony, knowing that things needed to be stopped now.

-Back on the Battlefield-

Kendrix, sick of doing nothing, finally said, :Let me out, Alan.:

Alan was much more hesitant than she was at this moment. "Are you sure? You've seen what these Porygon can do."

:I'll be fine.: Kendrix insisted. :Now, let me out.:

After a long delay, Alan finally threw out Kendrix's Poké Ball and released her onto the field of battle.

As he anticipated, a nearby Porygon launched Discharge, aiming to take down the bird. But, she was ready for it. :I don't think so.: She said as she threw up a Light Screen, deflecting the attack and sending it into the ground to fizzle out.

With Porygon completely stumped, having no data on a Fearow which was also a Psychic-type, Kendrix took advantage. She launched herself forward and used Drill Peck to bang Porygon's head multiple times.

The annoyance could only take so much punishment, and was taken down in a big hurry. "Nice job, Kendrix!" Alan called out, before using Hand of Fate against Porygon-Z.

Another one tried to emerge from the net, but a pink bubble surrounded the laptop, and, incidentally, the Porygon itself. Kendrix frowned and asked, :Just what is going on around here?:

The answer came with a couple of girlish giggles as two small cat-like creatures, each of which looked like a miniature Mewtwo, flew down and surrounded the bubble. "We're what's going on around here." One of them said to Kendrix.

Kendrix would have looked skeptical under normal circumstances, but given what had happened, she wasn't entirely surprised. :So, you're two of the legendary Mew.: She observed.

"That's right!" The second one replied in a very enthusiastic voice. They both began to spin around the Porygon, moving faster and faster around the creature.

:What are you doing here?: Kendrix asked, remaining calm despite the chaos around her.

The answer became plain to see when a small black blob came out of Porygon as the two Mew continued their spin cycle around Porygon. As Kendrix looked at it with a good deal of confusion, Alan looked over and nodded. "That must be the source of the corruption that Missingno created."

As the two Mew began to slow down, beams of pink energy flew out of them directly at the black blob. Not more than three seconds later, the corruption virus dissolved into data and disappeared.

Porygon was then released from the pink energy bubble and looked around, even more confused than the one which had been knocked out due to confusion over Kendrix's specific parameters.

The two of them slowed down and stopped. :Did you two manage to reverse all of the damage that Missingno did?: Kendrix asked the two of them.

One of the Mew nodded. "We sure did! But, we've got a lot of work to do if we want to reverse all of the damage, and not much time left."

Alan's attention was now focused exclusively on the Mew, having managed to slam one Porygon into Porygon-Z using Crimson Lightning. "What exactly should we do, then?"

The other Mew smiled and replied, "You need to knock out Missingno before it grows too powerful!"

Alan shook his head rapidly and asked, "How are we going to do that? It's too strong like it is now!" He prepared to launch Hand of Fate at Missingno, thinking once again, ~I know I'm going to regret this tomorrow…~

"That's easy!" One Mew said to the other. "If you can't attack it physically, you've got to attack mentally!"

Kendrix frowned mentally, not particularly liking the implications of that statement. :I might be a part Psychic-type, but…:

The other Mew giggled, "It's only because you have yet to truly embrace your inner Psychic. You've always been afraid of it, as if it was going to bite back or something."

Alan remembered back to Kendrix's roots, that she was actually an experiment into trying to truly change Pokémon at the molecular level when he found her. "It only makes sense that she would be afraid that by trying to utilize her powers more, she might fall into some sort of trap… but, what can you two Mew do about it?"

One flew around Kendrix's head and told Alan, "We have names, you know. I'm Ann."

The other one simply stated, "I'm Claire. Nice to meet ya."

Kendrix sighed, and then nodded lightly. :If it will help save the worlds… help me become a better psychic.:

Like with Porygon before her, the twin Mew spun around Kendrix at high speed, creating a field of incredible power. The only difference was that this time, Kendrix could feel power flowing into her body; power which enhanced her mind, and made her stronger than she could have ever imagined.

Shortly after this, the twin Mew flew off. "It's up to you now!" They told Kendrix. And with that, they flew toward the others, taking care of Porygon-Z first and foremost so that Missingno would be left unguarded.

Kendrix flew into battle, Alan not far behind her. :No!: Kendrix called out to her partner. :This is something I must do alone. I cannot risk harming you further.:

Alan's response was defiant, launching Hand of Fate at Missingno and causing the creature to break its concentration on the Digital Energy. It shrieked loudly, trying to call anyone who was free to it. But, all Porygon were otherwise occupied, and Porygon-Z was already free from its control.

Kendrix then launched her brand-new attack at Missingno. :Extrasensory!: She cried out as her Psychic waves assaulted Missingno's mind. Unsurprisingly, after being confined for so long, its mind was incredibly fragile. As a result, the swarm was very quickly broken up into its individual members, the hive mentality gone.

With this done, it was surprisingly easy for Alan to wipe out mass numbers of them using Crimson Lightning, another move he knew he'd regret tomorrow as his arm started burning internally once again.

After a mere minute more, Missingno was no more, completely destroyed by the combination of Alan and Kendrix. Both trainer and Pokémon would look at one another and nod in mutual understanding.

However, there was another problem; all the damage done by Missingno's drainage of the Digital Tear left it in a state where it was beginning to grow out of control.

Alan grunted as he began to feel the tear pulling at him, trying to drag him into the Digital World. "What the hell are we going to do now?"

Casey ran over and immediately tripped and fell, being dragged closer to the tear. Alan, in turn, ran to Casey and grabbed a hold of her. "What's going on?" Casey asked, fearful of the worst.

"I don't know, but unless something is done fast, we may not be around to contemplate the answer."

At that moment, the last of the Porygon were wiped clean by Ann and Claire. Each one of them could sense the danger posed by the Digital Tear. They could also sense that, even though they were controlled by Missingno at the time, this was partly their fault.

So, they communicated with each other and came to a consensus decision. Ann and Claire didn't particularly agree with their view, but at the time, they saw no other option available, so they did not stand in their way as the group of them flew toward the tear.

-20 seconds later-

The Porygon flew by Alan and Casey in a tightly clustered group, heading toward the growing tear in the lake. Alan yelled out, "What are you doing?!"

Porygon-Z spoke for the rest of them. "Pory, pory Porygon. Porygon, pory, ry Porygon." The reason that Kendrix didn't immediately translate this speech into human speech was that she understood exactly what it was saying, yet she refused to accept the fact that things had to be this way.

The Porygon once more charged toward the tear. Casey looked up at Kendrix and asked, "Well, what the heck did they just say?!"

Kendrix looked down and then said, :We know we have done wrong by acting alongside Missingno. And we know we must repent for those acts. Since this gateway opens into the Digital World, we can repair the hole ourselves by sacrificing ourselves and using the data to close the tear for good.:

Alan shot up and yelled, "Stop! There has to be another way!" He launched Crimson Lightning, aiming to corral the 10 Porygon before they could get inside the portal.

The strain on Alan's arm was obvious, though, and the attack never even got halfway to the party of Porygon.

When it was obvious that he was going to fail, Casey pulled Alan back down to assure that he wouldn't be pulled in as well. Tears were welling up in her eyes, thinking about the noble sacrifices about to be made for the sake of two worlds.

Once inside the rip in space-time, the 10 Porygon began to use Explosion, turning themselves into nothing more than digital data which stuck to the sides of the hole, closing the hole until nothing remained. Seconds later, Alan and Casey's Digivices shrieked and went back offline again.

A somber Alan and Casey hung by the pool as Sex and Violence were finally able to gather themselves and come around to their new human partners. Peter and Electrike walked over to console them, and Ryuchu walked over as well.

Casey was about ready to burst into tears over this whole thing when Ryuchu walked up to the pool. "We will never forget the bravery you have all shown in the face of incredible danger." As he shed a single tear into the lake, he added, "We will also never forget the sacrifices made by a few to save so many. This lake will be renamed Porygon Lake in their honor."

That was the last straw, and Casey broke out bawling, looking for the nearest shoulder to cry on. Alan, much to his own surprise, provided it and tried to comfort his ally the best that he could. He shook his own head and thought to himself, ~Even if they were only computer programs given life… they were still alive. And to watch such a sacrifice in front of your eyes…~ He looked down and finished his thought, ~… only serves to remind you of your own mortality.~

-Later that night, Porygon Lake-

Alan and Casey were inside the unusually warm lake, relaxing after a hard day's work. The two Pichu slept soundly above them, with Peter and Electrike standing guard, in case some other evil entity got the idea to try something like that. Kendrix, exhausted from a long day of work, slept in her Poké Ball.

Ann and Claire had left not long after the tear was closed up, without any real rhyme or reason, and the rest of the Thunder Hill Colony had offered for Casey and Alan to stay with them for as long as they deemed fit. It was just a shame, then, that they couldn't have stayed longer.

"Is your arm going to be all right?" Casey asked, genuinely worried about the other trainer.

"In time, it'll be just fine. Right now, though, it hurts like an SOB." He stated, rather matter-of-fact about it.

Casey winced mentally and looked down into her own reflection in the water. "Oh…"

Quickly changing subjects, Alan looked up at their two new friends above them on the rim. "To think that their names would actually be Sex and Violence…"

Casey couldn't help but sigh. "If Josh ever finds out I've got a Pichu named Violence, he'll never let me hear the end of it…"

Alan chuckled weakly, and looked up at his Pichu with a smile. "And if I have one named Sex, along the same token, perhaps I'll get to experience it someday…"

Casey groaned and asked, "Is that all you ever think about?"

Alan thought about how best to answer the question, and then spoke. "I've always looked at sex this way, Casey. It's about two people who love each other very much. About two people who want to show each other that they love each other a lot. And about the passion which is unleashed in that act."

Casey was touched that Alan felt this way, but to be perfectly frank, Alan was telling a pack of half-truths in order to keep Casey from believing that he was nothing more than a lecher.

He then sighed and said, "Maybe someday I'll find someone who shares that passion with me, or…" Alan trailed off, not exactly wanting to finish that thought.

Then both of them looked at each other. Both shared the grief of watching the Porygon sacrifice themselves, both had seen signs from the other that maybe there was a chance there could be something more between them.

And, shortly after drying off, they both decided to take that chance…

Narrator: *sweatdrop* And, on that note, we're done here! *ahem!* And so, thanks to their bravery, and the help of some unexpected allies, Alan and Casey beat back the threat of Missingno. But what happened to the others? And what will become of Thunder Hill? Find out the answers to at least one of these soon!

-Not far down the mountain-

Victor watched as Alan and Casey prepared to do their deed. He clenched his fists and looked down at the ground. ~After all this time, I've finally found you… and soon, I will have my revenge for what you did to me.~ He walked back down the mountain, plots dancing in his head and a smirk painted across his face.

Next Time: Josh, Kyle and Ryo attempt to traverse the dangerous Fiery Path. But, there is more to this tunnel than meets the eye. Will they be able to cross safely? And what will happen when they are reunited with Alan and Casey? Find out on the next episode of Digicross Advanced!


	7. RoD 7: Magma Blockade

Author Josh: Now for a brand-new feature this week... it's called Author's Corner, and will feature me answering questions from the readers of this lovely series. Now, there haven't been a whole lot of those lately, but one did stick out in my mind from the last review on Season 1, asking me why I make these episodes "so long". The basic front and back of that issue is simple. In early episodes, I had no problems skimming over details, but that changed when Trey Miller joined staff. He insisted I use more detail, and gradually I started to, and the episodes lengthened. 95% of all episodes will be between 4,000 and 10,000 words, with some obvious exceptions, such as the last episode. This episode tends more toward the lower end, with less 'action', while next week's will tend more toward the larger number.

Besides, with only one coming out each week, there has to be some meat for the fans to grab a hold of, and some decent time spent reading it. And with only 30 episodes in a season (Omakes and Movies not withstanding), there's not a lot of time to muck about on 1,500-2,000 word episodes.

In any case, thanks for the question PokEFan22. Or at least a derivation of your question. *sweatdrop* I'll answer questions each week to the best of my ability, but you've got to send them in to me, either via review, or via e-mail. Anyway... on with the show! *bows and walks off stage*

Narrator: Last time, Casey and Alan proceeded into hostile territory, around the colony of Thunder Hill. After an exhausting battle, the entity Missingno was defeated, and the Digital Tear into the Badlands closed for good. But, the others haven't been sitting around, either…

Digicross Advanced Episode 37: "The Magma Blockade"

Episode Written by Josh Johannesen & Kyle Evanick

As Ryo, Josh and Kyle approached the entrance to the tunnel through the mountain, Fiery Path, Kyle was grinning like he was a kid in a candy store. Curious as to his thoughts, Ryo observed, "You sure seem hopped up today, Kyle."

Then, almost as if he were waiting for someone to say something like that, Kyle exclaimed, "I can't wait to get in there and catch them!"

Both of the other boys sweatdropped. Josh asked, "Why? I didn't think there was anything really exciting about this place."

Kyle turned around and said, "Come on! There's loads of Fire-types in there! I love Fire-types!"

Ryo's sweatdrop grew larger for a moment. "But, Kyle, I thought you-"

Kyle began to break into a run. "Come on! Time's a-wastin'! And who knows when Alan and Casey will catch up with us!" He ran into the tunnel ahead of the two remaining boys.

Both of them sweatdropped, and then followed Kyle into the tunnel.

-5 minutes later-

After catching up with their over-eager friend, Ryo had been trying to convince Kyle that a uni-type team wasn't a good idea… most of the time. "Look, Kyle. You've already got Combusken. He'll evolve again, if he's anything like the starters of the other areas. So, concentrate instead on bolstering your team's variety."

Josh nodded on the other side of Kyle. "He's right, you know. If you were going to be a Gym Leader or Elite Four, you might not have a choice but to use a single type. But, since we're aiming for the Hoenn League Championships, a variety would help you out a lot more."

Kyle thought about this for a minute, and then nodded. "I suppose you're right." Just as Josh and Ryo were about to drop the issue Kyle added, "But, if I were to decide to change my path, then it would be different…"

While both Josh and Ryo wanted to go into the issue further, there was no time. Coming down the hallway was the three Rockets, screaming loudly as they were being chased by a group of surprisingly fast Slugma.

Since there was no place in the narrow corridor to dodge the Slugma, the three Digidestined were forced to join the chase, running ahead of Jessie, James and Meowth.

-3 minutes later-

After a long chase, the six of them were able to find at least temporary solace behind a rock outcropping. Breathing heavily, Kyle muttered to himself, "At least we know we aren't missing out on excitement…"

Ryo, who had wanted to yell, asked very sharply, "Why did those Slugma give chase to you?"

James and Meowth immediately pointed the finger, literally, at Jessie. She, in turn, looked hurt that the two of them would "sell her out" so quickly.

James went on to explain, "She said something to insult them. Something about not being real Fire-types or something; it hurt their pride, and they chased after us… just a word to the wise, never insult a Fire-type."

Ryo thought back to all the times when he had his head singed because of comments made to Charmeleon, and nodded lightly. "You don't have to tell me that."

James looked at Ryo, and then corrected himself. "Oh, sorry… I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to Kyle."

Josh raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why does he get to be 'Kyle' all of a sudden?"

Jessie sighed and responded in a snide fashion, "Some sort of truce the two of them struck up while they were in jail; now James does let us call him a twerp either."

A small angervein grew on both Josh and Ryo's heads, but they quickly calmed down, both being quite used to the terminology by now.

To themselves, Kyle and James talked lightly. "I told you she was as bad as Casey was." Kyle said quietly to James.

James quickly concurred. "Both have too much energy, both strike a lot of poses… and they both sometimes have the tendency to hurt you out of nowhere."

It was a lucky thing that Casey was nowhere near this place now, or Kyle would have felt it. Instead, it was James who felt the pain of Jessie's hammer straight from malletspace.

He went sliding across the rocky floor as all three people in front of Jessie winced lightly. "Who couldn't have seen that coming?" Josh asked Ryo and Meowth.

Both quickly responded, "I think we both knew it was coming." They both looked at each other, slightly creeped out by the stereo moment.

Josh, who was more interested in the exit anyway, was looking into the next room in this tunnel. "What's that?" Josh asked as he pointed to a floating purple ball moving through the next cavern.

Kyle smiled and remarked, "That's a Koffing! Cool!" He whipped out his Pokédex, and it played an entry on the creature.

"Koffing, the Poison Gas Pokémon. If Koffing becomes agitated, it raises the toxicity of its gases and jets them out all over its body. This Pokémon may over-inflate its round body and then explode."

Not surprisingly, James was the most amused at Kyle's sudden interest. "You like Koffing all of a sudden?"

Kyle nodded definitively. "That's right."

Ryo pointed to Koffing and re-iterated the question. "You think that Pokémon is cool?"

Kyle nodded again and turned to the creature in the next room. "I sure do. And soon, it will be mine!" He pulled out a Poké Ball and shouted, "Go, Taillow!" The tiny bird shot out of his Poké Ball.

Following his signature call, Kyle yelled, "Now, use Wing Attack!" The small bird shot out like a bullet, wings glowing. He hit Koffing, who winced lightly.

Then, in retaliation, it expanded its body and blew out some billowing smoke. The Digidestined and Team Rocket coughed loudly. Jessie remarked, "So this is what it feels like to be on the receiving end…"

Kyle, however, saw a significant opportunity. He palmed a Poké Ball and threw it out. "Poké Ball, go!" Koffing was quite surprised to see the Ball flying through the Smog; so surprised, in fact that it was unable to get out of the way in time.

As such, when the smoke cleared, there was no "floating purple ball", but a small red and white Poké Ball sitting on the ground. Kyle ran over and grabbed the Ball. He got very excited and then yelled out, displaying his new Poké Ball with pride, "I caught a Koffing!" Taillow joined in on the celebration.

Ryo smiled and said, "Congratulations, Kyle." Kyle smiled back to his friend.

Jessie stood up and said, "That wasn't half-bad, kid… even if you did act an awful lot like that twerp Ash."

Kyle looked back at the party and said, "I wanted to be the one to catch a new Pokémon for once. Koffing's my first catch since Taillow."

Josh sweatdropped lightly and thought to himself, ~Is the fact that I have four of my own weighing that heavily on his mind?~

Kyle looked down the corridor and then said loudly, "I'll bet you that there's more down here!" He tore off in a run down the corridor.

As the rest of the party sweatdropped, James, the closest to Kyle at the time, tore off the corridor after him. "Wait up!" he yelled out in vain as he followed Kyle.

Everyone else looked at each other, and then nodded. "No need to hurry… they'll still be there when we get there." Ryo observed.

"Now yer talkin' some sense!" Meowth said to Ryo.

-Further down the corridor-

James caught up with Kyle a few moments after everyone else abandoned the chase, panting heavily as he slowed down Kyle. "What's the big rush…? It's not… like the Pokémon… are going anywhere."

Kyle looked back at James with a smile. "I haven't been so excited about being anywhere for a long time. Why wouldn't I want to hurry?"

James asked, "So that you don't lose everyone else?"

Kyle shrugged. "Let's just keep moving."

After recovering his breath, James sighed. "Well, you never know what lies around the next corner…"

This, unfortunately, happened to be the worst time for James to make that statement. As they turned the corner, they ran straight into a plume of fire which rose from the ground beneath them.

But, their jump took them straight into a pair of mechanical arms set in the ceiling. They bumped into the arms and were caught immediately. The fact that they bumped into the arms with their heads knocked the two of them out.

Set to do their duty, the arms began to produce some chains and worked on the two "friends"…

-Back down the Corridor-

Jessie, Meowth, Ryo and Josh walked down the passageway, knowing this was the only way in or out of this place. Jessie, however, looked downright confused. "Do any of you twerps know exactly what they said to one another in jail?"

Ryo and Josh twitched their eyebrows in annoyance. "Why exactly do you insist on calling us twerps?" Ryo asked, a hint of said annoyance in his voice.

Meowth responded, "Cause all you are is a bunch a' young punks like dat Ash twerp."

Jessie added with confidence, "We use the term of a bunch of kids we should be able to beat, because we have a lot more experience."

With a light snicker, Josh added, "… at losing, you mean?"

Jessie pulled out her mallet and prepared to bean Josh, but he was intercepted by Blade, who leapt out of his Poké Ball to protect his master. Jessie leered at the Pokémon, but he stared back, almost daring Jessie to try it again.

Josh blinked and then looked back to Blade's Poké Ball on his belt. "Huh… he's never done that before…"

Ryo looked at Josh and then observed, "I think one of Misty's Pokémon used to do just that… only he was a lot more annoying, if I remember her accounts."

Meowth grumbled. "Yeah, I remember dat Pokémon…"

-Cerulean Gym-

Psyduck tilted its head slightly, confused. "… Psy?" He would have sneezed if he weren't so confused.

-Fiery Path-

The mood was broken up by a dull metallic clanging coming from further ahead in the tunnels. Everyone looked ahead and heard it last for a few seconds before suddenly ceasing. "What was that?" Ryo asked, looking specifically to Jessie and Meowth.

Both Rockets looked at each other and shrugged. "We didn't do this one," Jessie admitted. "If we had, we wouldn't be looking so surprised."

Josh interjected suddenly, "We could stand here and argue about this for awhile, or we could actually go and help them."

There was little argument with that statement, so everyone moved into the next chamber quickly.

-Two chambers beyond-

Kyle and James were beginning to come back to consciousness, each one as confused as the other as to what exactly happened. That wasn't the biggest thought at the front of their minds though. James sniffed the air and asked, "Do you smell something burning?"

Kyle nodded lightly. "Yeah, I do… but the question remains… what?"

The answer to that question was found about 30 seconds later when James looked over at Kyle. His feet were secured to the grate beneath him, but that wasn't the thing which caused James to panic. It was the jet of flame rising from beneath hitting Kyle's bottom. "Get up! You're the one on fire!" James yelled.

Almost immediately, Kyle did that, but found the task impossible with his feet in chains. Making matters worse, when he reached for his Poké Balls, he found that both his arms and his hands were bound in similar fashion. He grunted of exertion and said, "I… can't…"

It was at that moment that he noticed that James was actually in exactly the same boat as he. "Hate to break it to you, but you're burning as well."

Unfortunately, this sent James into a pure panic, writhing and struggling against the chains. Grunts and panting came from James' mouth, as Kyle was observing the literal breakdown of someone's mental faculties due to fear.

But, their fortunes took a turn for the better a few seconds later when the Josh, Ryo, Meowth and Jessie ran into the room. Each one looked at Kyle and James' predicament and then looked at each other. "Who could have done such a thing?" Josh asked, wanting desperately to get angry.

Ryo then asked a more appropriate question. "Who cares? We need to get them out of there." There wasn't any argument with that, so they went in to quickly get to work.

Unsurprisingly, each person caught in the trap had two people attempting to get him out. In Kyle's case, it was Josh and Ryo, with some minor assistance from Blade. And in James' case, it was Jessie and Meowth.

Sadly, it was even less surprising when the four of them were unsuccessful in freeing either of the boys attached to the grate. So, after about five minutes of this work, the four would-be rescuers decided it was a good idea to use their Pokémon to try and do the job.

Josh turned to his partner and said, "Use Bullet Seed and try to break the chains." Blade nodded and jumped to get into position behind Kyle. He then launched the attack directly into the chains. Predictably, the maneuver was less than effective against the solid chains. But, the ricochet bounced many of the seeds directly into Kyle's back.

"Hey! Watch it!" Kyle yelled at Josh.

Josh looked at Kyle and suggested, "If you've got a better idea, I'm all ears."

Kyle, realizing he had no ideas of his own, promptly shut up. Ryo then suggested, "Maybe some of Alan and Casey's Pokémon would help here?"

Josh nodded lightly. "Oh yeah… they could help here." Josh reached into his pack and pulled out two Poké Balls in particular. "Now that I think of it, there might be a method which could work…" The two balls he tossed out released Tommy and Aquaris onto the field.

Tommy looked at the scenario, and then turned back to the two Digidestined free of confinement. "Why are they chained up like this?"

Ryo answered quickly, "If we knew the answer to that, I would guarantee you they would be feeling a lot of pain right now."

Tommy nodded and looked at the chains. "I think I know what you want me to do." He launched a gout of flame at the chains, which began to heat up rapidly.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Kyle yelled loudly as the chains began to cause a great deal of searing pain.

Josh asked calmly, "Isn't there a way to cause less pain to Kyle while he is going through this process?"

Tommy's response as Aquaris used Water Gun to cool down the chains, "If I don't pour it on, Kyle might come away even worse than he is now."

Ryo sweatdropped, and then sighed loudly. "There has got to be a solution…"

Meanwhile, Team Rocket were brainstorming with each other on how to allow James to escape. "Could we get Seviper or Arbok to help here?"

Meowth shook his head. "If we tried dat, dey're tails would get stuck before dey got him free!"

James, still in a panic, said, "Please do something!" in a hurried tone.

As panic was beginning to set in with everyone, Josh began to think to himself, ~If we could only get them free… I don't want Kyle to suffer anymore pain…~

Josh's thoughts betrayed the fact that his mental walls were beginning to break down. But, this time, they were extremely helpful. Blade could sense Josh's desire to help Kyle, and then he closed his own eyes. ~Please, give me the strength to assist Josh…~

Then, inside his mind, Blade would hear a lock being undone, and a new technique was available to him immediately.

Snapping his eyes open afterward, Blade patted Josh on the back. The trainer looked at his Pokémon, whose eyes betrayed the depth of the new knowledge he had gained. Josh looked deep into his eyes, and could somehow see the answer which Blade wanted to show him.

With this new knowledge in hand, Josh turned back to Kyle and James and commanded, "Use Leaf Blade now!" In actuality, it was closer to a "Leafsteel Blade", as evidenced when Grovyle's attacks sliced clean through the chains and disconnected Kyle and James from their trap.

Needless to say, both shot up moments later and began rapidly fanning their bottoms to cool them off.

Ryo looked directly at Josh and asked, "What happened there? I didn't think Blade knew how to use Leaf Blade…"

Josh shrugged. "I don't know… but, I think he wanted to learn it to help out…" He looked at his Pokémon, who looked at his arms, very pleased with himself.

Kyle, after finishing his own fan session, looked at Josh and Blade, very curious himself about the origins of the attack. It defied everything a Trainer knew about their Pokémon. In the end, though, it didn't really matter. "Thanks a lot you guys." Blade nodded confidently.

Josh smiled and responded, "I think Blade wants to say, 'You're welcome.'"

As Team Rocket consoled their teammate about the situation, Jessie asked, "Hey, twerps! Who do you think did this?"

Josh still wasn't thrilled about being called a twerp, but he answered nevertheless. "I really believe that since it was a fire trap… chances are it was Team Magma."

Tommy rolled his eyes and said, "It's a good thing Casey isn't around now. I'd bet you would get into it over that observation."

Josh looked at the Charmander and then nodded lightly. "You're probably right about that."

James looked ahead, as all three Team Rocket members sighed. "Guess we'll have to go back the way we came…"

Kyle and Josh looked at the three of them. Kyle asked in a frantic voice, "Are you sure about that?"

James answered, nodding slowly, "If we go ahead, chances are we will encounter more of Team Magma's traps. The way this trap was, they're probably protecting something further on."

Josh sighed loudly and turned to Ryo. "Guess we're going to have to go through the desert, huh?"

Ryo nodded lightly, "Don't worry. It won't be as bad as you might think it is…"

Josh shook his head and added, "You know, I lived in a desert before, Ryo…"

-20 minutes later-

As they came back to the entrance to the cave, the four of them found a most unusual sight, a horrible storm going on outside. All of their Pokémon were back in their appropriate Poké Balls, of course.

As lightning struck a nearby tree, a shell-shocked James suggested, "How about we stay here tonight and head out in the morning?"

Ryo leered at James and asked, "And just how do we know you won't try to steal from us in the night?"

Kyle's answer was simple, "If they do, I'll know it, and I'll stop them." Of course, the vagueness of that statement made it difficult to know exactly what he meant by it. But, there wasn't exactly room to argue with lightning and 50 mile an hour winds blowing outside.

So, they set up camp and tolerated one another for awhile longer, eating dinner in silence. Though, for the Rockets, it wasn't silent, as they scarfed down anything which was put in front of them.

-Later that night-

As everyone tried to sleep in their sleeping bags on the rough floor of the path, the winds and storm outside finally died down again, as if it were sent back to whence it came. Jessie, who had been having the most trouble sleeping, noted this and began to pack up her things.

Kyle heard this and sprung up, worried that she was going back to doing what she did. But, when he saw her packing up, he asked quietly, "What are you doing? I thought you were going to wait for dawn to get moving."

Jessie looked back at Kyle and smirked. "No offense, but we can't be seen with you twerps. People will start talking. So we'll just be taking our leave tonight."

Frowning, Kyle watched her pack up, then wake up James and Meowth. He was looking for any signs of her thievery.

So when she didn't perform any of these acts, he was quite surprised. One act they did perform as they left, predictably, was talking to themselves as they left.

"We got out of there just in time…" Jessie stated.

"And we didn't even do any rhymes…" James added.

Meowth facepalmed and said, "Afraid you just did…"

"Team Rocket's running off again…" They said quietly as they ran out of the tunnel and out onto the plains.

Kyle shook his head and sighed. "Sometimes, they're just too weird." He put his head down and went back to sleep.

-The Following Morning-

After an early breakfast, the three boys set out from Fiery Path, heading back toward the desert. "Well, that was a productive day…" Ryo said sarcastically.

Kyle responded, "I think it was very productive, I got a new Pokémon."

"Yeah, but we did kind of think we'd be meeting Alan and Casey on the other side of Mount Chimney today…" Josh said, sighing loudly at the end.

Almost as if on cue, a screech could be heard along with an excited, "We're back!" from a female voice. Kyle groaned almost immediately.

As Kendrix landed in front of the three of them, Josh, Ryo and Kyle got a good look at Alan and Casey. Both looked tired, but Alan looked even more exhausted for some reason. Nevertheless, Alan was the first to speak up. "What happened? I thought we were going to meet on the other side of Mount Chimney?"

Nobody on the "Fiery Path" team were really saying much of anything apart from ums and uhs. Alan began to look even more confused.

Casey then asked, "What happened in there?"

Kyle immediately spat out, "Nothing…"

A highly suspicious Kendrix scanned the minds of the three would-be spelunkers. It was immediately obvious to her why they didn't want to say a thing, so she exercised the same caution as she had with private information collected from Casey.

Alan raised his eyebrow, suspicious, but decided not to push the issue any further. And before Casey could blurt out her next question, Ryo asked, "What about you two? What have you been doing these last couple of days?"

Kyle added, "Yeah, what happened? You look awful, Alan."

As before, though, there was a lot of stalling for time, and generally not saying much about the events of the last couple of days for them.

Josh snickered and pointed out, "So it seems that neither side wants to tell the other exactly what transpired." After a set of nods confirmed this fact, he went on to suggest, "Then let's leave it be for now, and simply concentrate on the matter at hand. We're going through the desert to reach Fallarbor Town."

Alan and Casey looked confused again, and she prepared to get out her mallet to conk some answers out of the boys. Josh then added, "I wouldn't suggest doing that… Blade's a bit high-strung, and looking for someone to take it out on." The calmness which Josh delivered this statement was a bit disconcerting.

Still, there was no argument with Josh's statement, much as Casey wanted to. "Before we go, though… we kind of need our Pokémon back," Alan pointed out.

"Oh, yeah…" was the general response from Ryo, Josh and Kyle, as they began to hand back the Pokémon they had been tasked with taking care of.

"Were my Pokémon hard to handle?" Casey asked.

Kyle responded, "Not really. Your Pokémon really slept most of the time. No big deal at all."

Casey had been hoping to fish some information out of this statement, but seeing that there was a definite wall up around the information, she finally relented and simply yelled out, "Let's go! I'll sing the Electabuzz song to entertain us on the road back!"

A group groan quickly followed as everyone asked, "Who's got the earplugs?"

-In a nearby bush-

James, Jessie and Meowth popped their heads out of the bush. James had told them a little bit of what had happened when he disappeared, but it still amazed them that Alan looked as ragged as he did.

Smirking, Jessie disappeared back into the brush. James and Meowth followed soon after.

Narrator: And so, the Digidestined were repelled from Fiery Path, and are forced to take the more treacherous path through Sandstorm Desert. Will they survive the threats which lie in store for them on the road ahead? Unfortunately, it's not the only danger on the path to Fallarbor Conference…

-Meanwhile…-

A small fleet of helicopters continued to fly across the ocean, making steady progress toward Hoenn. The pilot of the head craft told everyone, "We will be making a landing soon at a fueling station and then conclude the journey to Hoenn."

Giovanni, owner of the fleet, smirked. "Excellent. Continue as scheduled."

The black helicopters continued on their straight-line course, heading for the fueling station up ahead.

Giovanni chose that moment to look across at his two comrades in the helicopter. Murmuxmon, who sat across from him, and Devidramon, recently evolved from Magnatar, watching out the window. "How are the two of you holding up?"

Murmuxmon chuckled darkly and said, "I'm fine. As long as I have Dark Energy to feed off of, I can create as much Digital Energy as I need."

Devidramon, as excitable as before, yelled out, "I'm good too! I can't wait to get into Hoenn and create some destruction!"

Murmuxmon got up and put his arm over Devidramon. "Patience, my servant, patience…"

Giovanni nodded. "He's right. We will need to get established in Hoenn before we can make any bold moves."

The destructive tendancies of Magnatar were speaking when Devidramon looked at the floor of the copter and said, "Aw, man…"

But, after a few moments of silence, Giovanni mentioned off-hand, "It shouldn't take too long, though. Team Rocket already has a base hidden within Hoenn's borders."

Upon hearing this, Devidramon smiled darkly and lit up like a Christmas tree. "Nice!" was all he could say to the Rocket Boss.

Murmuxmon snickered as he sat back down. "You know, you're spoiling him, Giovanni… next thing you know, he's going to want his own missile or something."

Giovanni closed his eyes and smiled. "What can I say? Sometimes, I can be a real peach."

All three villains laughed maniacally at Giovanni's comment as the copters continued to speed toward Hoenn.

Narrator:

Next Time: Jessie, James and Meowth return, better than before! Although, it is kind of hard for them to be worse… will their bigger budget give the trio better results? And why on earth are the Power Ranger references back? The answers to this, and at least one other thing are to be found on the next episode of Digicross Advanced!


	8. RoD 8: What's My Liner?

**Narrator:** _Last time, Kyle and James were suspended over a supposed "death-trap" that seemed more suited to toasting marshmallows. We find our heroes where we left them...but Casey has a question._

"Hey, Alan?" Casey asked, feeling a little guilty. She knew she probably shouldn't wake him. Then again, she was becoming increasingly concerned about whether or not he'd wake up at all.

To her infinite relief, Alan's eyes fluttered open. "Casey?" he asked tiredly,

"Yeah. Can I ask you something?" Casey asked quietly.

"You woke me up for that?" Alan wondered.

Casey's promptly lowered her voice even more. "There are other things I'd like to wake you up for," she admitted, "but..." She nodded towards Kyle.

"Enhanced Hearing can be such a pain." Alan agreed.

"Besides, it's been nagging at me all night." Casey added.

"I'm listening."

"Is James Bond real?" Casey asked, then shrugged. "I know there's the movie series in Kyle's world, but there are all sorts of rumours about him being seen in the British Islands."

"Well, he IS English." Alan noted. "Yeah, he's real. I should know, he saved me and a few other people from Team Rocket when I was nine."

"Team Rocket? In England?" Casey asked.

"Way I heard it, Team Rocket originated in Jamaica." Alan shrugged. "Go figure."

Casey glanced over at Kendrix and smiled as she realised the Fearow had fallen asleep. "So what happened?" she asked... and felt her face fall as she realised Alan had fallen asleep again. Shaking her head, she took Kendrix's Ultra Ball and returned her, then rested her head against Alan's chest, listening to the slow heartbeat...

------

Digicross Advanced 38

"What's My Liner?"

Written by Alan Wilkinson

Digicross Universe Concept by Patrick O'Shea

Digicross Advanced Series Concept by Josh Johannesen

Digimon and related monsters Toei of Japan

Pokémon and related monsters Nintendo of Japan

------

The following morning, Team Rocket were... reflecting on the previous days events. Or rather, James was.

"James, wouldya shaddup?" Meowth growled. "I've heard enough about your buns to last all my remaining lives."

"Bagels, actually." James replied, holding one up as he set up the cooking gear.

Meowth's eyes bugged out. "Where did you get those?"

James chuckled warmly. "I 'liberated' them from Alan's backpack." he replied, pointing at a bag next to him. Of course, this happened back at Fiery Forest, but that was irrelevant to the hungry Rockets now.

Meowth walked up and stared at the food inside the bag, then frowned. "It's got your name on it." he said suspiciously.

"Yes." James agreed. "That's how I know he isn't going to come looking for it."

Meowth shook his head in amazement. _What, are we gonna start playing sokka with them next? Still, villainous pride is one thing, but I ain't passing up free grub_. His stomach growled in agreement.

James chuckled. "It'll be ready soon." His eyes turned distant. "I wonder if Trey's eating this well."

"Knowing him, probably better." Meowth guessed. "I'm more interested in where he is. He was a big help to us."

"Even if it did seem to be more for the twerps benefit than ours?" Jessie asked, raising an eyebrow. "And after his little temper tantrum, I think he's got rather too many people looking for him for it to be safe for us to be around him. Besides, we don't need him for this."

James and Meowth exchanged glances. "'For this'?" James echoed. "What are you planning, Jess?"

"I was thinking about that Digi-Egg Alan showed us. Such a waste for a thing of evil to be in the hands of such a goody-goody twerp."

"And give it to the boss!" Meowth cheered.

"Hell no!" Jessie growled. "I want it for myself."

Meowth and James stared at each other. "Jessie..." Meowth began.

"...with a whip." James finished.

"Scary!" they chorused.

"Knock it off." Jessie growled, unable to hide a blush.

"Do you really want to try to steal the personal property of a crazy who messed with Dakarimon?"

"He may be crazy," Jessie mused, "but when we left the twerps, he wasn't looking very well. And judging from the baseball freak's face, it wasn't just a sudden case of exhaustion. He's really sick. And that may be our opportunity."

"But Jess, even if he is unwell, we only ever beat the rest those twerps that _once_ because Trey was guiding us." James complained. "How are we supposed to beat them now?"

"Oh, I have a suitable plan." Jessie smiled, then glared at James. "Unless you'd rather we didn't hurt your _friends_..."

"Please," James snorted, delicately handling a sausage, "their day wouldn't be complete without us. And since they are in a way responsible for this little feast, it would only be neighbourly to pay them a visit..."

---

The first thing Casey was aware of was someone calling her name. The second thing was a slow heartbeat and it's continued presence made her smile in contentment.

"Casey." the voice repeated. With a groan, Casey dragged her eyes open and looked up to see Kyle. "Sorry." she said, sitting up. "Wasn't expecting to sleep."

"Don't worry, I covered for you." Kyle assured her. "But we had a couple of visitors a few minutes ago."

"What happened?" Kyle and Casey looked over to see Josh getting up.

"Don't worry, I took care of them." Kyle said. Casey looked down to see one of Kyle's sabres, stored in a makeshift holster. "But they'll be missed," Kyle continued, "So we'd better get out of here now. Ryo's guarding the entrance."

"Or was." Ryo said, hurrying in, Charmeleon in tow. "Someone just tried to call our friends."

"Then we're gone." Josh glanced at Alan, who still lay asleep. "What about him?"

"I'll carry him." Casey said. The boys were surprised at this, but there wasn't time to argue.

By the time the Magma's arrived to discover their unconscious team-mates, the Destined were gone.

---

Meanwhile, Team Rocket had the misfortune to be run into a group of a dozen Aqua girl's on their way to attack the Magma's...unfortunate for the Aqua's, as Seviper, Cacnea and Meowth ripped through the Walrein without much effort at all.

"Glad they waited until after breakfast to turn up." James commented.

"I knew we were a cut above the rest," Meowth purred, "But I LOVE this new attack. I must remember ta thank dat Zigzagoon. It's been WAY too long since we last won a fight."

Within minutes, the Aqua's had been stripped of everything they owned except their underwear (you never knew when a good disguise would come in handy) and imprisoned with some of Jessie's superglue.

"So what do we do with all dese Walrein?" Meowth asked as they continued on.

"Use them on the twerps?" James shrugged.

"If we beat all of them, the twerps won't have any trouble." Jessie pointed out with a sigh. It had seemed so simple earlier, but now she was starting to lose hope.

"Hey what's dat?" Meowth asked, looking up at something approaching from the sky.

"It's Delibird!" James cheered, then stopped. "Oh wait, that's bad."

"No kidding." Jessie griped. "we still owe money, remember?"

"Calm down you two, you're making me sweat." Meowth chided. "Let's see what he has ta say." Delibird flapped down and landed in front of them, nodding his head in greeting. "Hi there," Meowth said nervously. "Haven't seen you in a while." Delibird began speaking quickly. "Why, what's been going on?" Meowth asked. Delibird continued. "WHAT?" Meowth exploded.

"Translation?" James squeaked, really not liking the way Meowth's face had gone pale.

"According to Delibird, The Boss got busted and ended up in Da Big House!"

"WHAT?" Jessie and James chorused. Delibird began gesturing frantically.

"Oh, thank Mew." Meowth muttered. "Don't scare us like that!" he yelled at Delibird, who managed to look apologetic.

"Good news?" Jessie ventured.

"Turns out da Boss has already escaped and is making a new base here!"

"He's in Hoenn?" James asked. Delibird nodded, then spoke again.

"He says that most of da organisation got busted when he did and he's gathering da remaining members to aid in the resurrection."

"What about Butch and Cassidy?" Jessie asked. Delibird looked confused and squawked.

"He asked 'Who?'" Meowth laughed.

"Never mind then." Jessie chuckled. "So the boss wants us?"

Delibird held up a wing and started talking again. "Not so fast." Meowth translated. "He wants the Jessie, James and Meowth from da Training sessions, not..." Delibird paused.

"Not the hopeless pathetic losers we are now?" James suggested.

"If you were that pathetic, we would not be having this conversation." Delibird said via Meowth. "He saw us defea... no, demolishing the Aqua's, so we have some potential. However, the Boss has taken note of our track record in dealing with pre-teens and adolescents."

"Don't get us started." James groused.

"So..." Meowth blinked. "Da boss has a challenge for us."

"What kind of challenge?" Jessie asked. Delibird replied.

"Basically, do to the nearby group of Digidestined what we did to the Aqua's and steal an item of great personal value to 'em. If we can steal all their things, even better." Meowth translated, then sighed. "We are SO screwed."

"Sad, but true." James agreed.

"NO!" Jessie declared. "I won't accept that! There has to be a way!" She paused, then deflated. "I just have no idea how."

Delibird chuckled, then spoke again. "He said 'Tell you what, how about a trade?'" Meowth translated.

"What kind of trade?" James asked.

"What do you want?" Jessie clarified.

Delibird squawked a reply. "'The Walrein.'" Meowth translated, then shrugged. "Dat's fair enough."

Jessie and James nodded agreement. "So what are you offering?" Jessie asked.

Delibird pointed upwards and Team Rocket gaped at the large shape that appeared from the clouds.

"'That'"

---

With no other real option, the Destined had decided to head back along Route 111. After a week's travel, they would be able to take the alternate route through the Sandstorm dessert.

At least, one week at their normal speed, but Alan's condition was slowing them down. Casey had indeed carried Alan for part of the way, then suddenly handed him off to Josh, hurried over to some nearby bushes and vomited up what little breakfast she'd managed to force down with no appetite and both hands full.

Alan had woken up shortly afterwards, in a manner that reminded Kyle of a zombie rising from the grave, only with a lot less enthusiasm.

"Do you think he's going to be alright?" Ryo asked. Kyle blinked out of his thoughts, noticing Alan walking slowly along up front, Josh and Casey either side of him. In the sky, Taillow and Kendrix flew, circling the group, looking out for any trouble.

"That is a very good question, Ryo." Kyle sighed. "He looks like he's wasting away before our eyes."

"Do you think Casey likes him?" Ryo asked.

"Yes." Kyle replied, the certainty of his answer surprising Ryo. "You didn't spend three hours watching her sleep on him." Kyle pointed out. "She's fallen for him, no doubt about it."

"And you're ok with that?"

"Ryo, if she's truly interested in someone else, I'm off the hook. It's _great_." Kyle grinned, then subsided. "Or it would be, in better circumstances."

"Do you think that they've..." Ryo trailed off suggestively.

"Ryo," Kyle replied warmly, "Some things we're betting off not knowing. But..."

"But..." Ryo prompted after a moment.

"Casey's scent has changed."

:You and your nose: Kendrix chuckled, then frowned. :Something's coming.:

That was all the warning the Destined got before the sky fell in with a series of deafening explosions which flattened them an instant before a _second_ barrage hit the ground before detonating, picking the Destined up and throwing them every which way. Caught in the first barrage, Kendrix dropped like a stone, crashing in the grasses nearby, fainted instantly. Taillow faired somewhat better, Managing to Double Team his way out of the worst of it, but was still forced to land, stunned.

"What was _that_?" Ryo demanded, trying to get the ringing out of his ears.

"Better question: Why aren't we dead?" Josh asked.

"Some sort of Sonic Charges." Kyle grimaced, clearly in a lot of pain. The other two boys winced. They knew Kyle's hearing could be acute, but for once they didn't envy him one bit.

Trying not to throw up again, Casey crawled over to Alan, disturbed but unsurprised to discover he was unconscious. -_Please be alright_- she thought.

"Well, now I know why it's called 'Shock and awe'" a familiar New-York accent rang out.

"Them?" everyone chorused, more exasperated than anything else. Then, two other voices echoed from the heavens.

"An evil as old as the Galaxy!"

"Sent here to fulfil our destiny!"

For the second time that morning, the shape descended from the sky. _Now_ the Destined were shocked and awed at the sight of a large bomber plane swooping down towards them.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

The bomber stopped, hovering in the air by unknown means and the Rockets emerged into view, all dressed in royal purple, with yellow emblems.

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"And Meowth, of course!"

"Wherever there is peace in the universe..."

"...Team Rocket..."

"...will be there..."

"...to make everything worse!"

"It's Dragliner!" Casey realised suddenly. "I don't remember it being able to hover, but it's Dragliner!"

"You've seen GoDannar?" Ryo asked, surprised. "I wouldn't have thought Mecha series were your thing."

"I watched it for the fanservice." Casey replied casually.

Kyle shrugged. "Maybe Team Rocket stole the idea from the show, but upgrad... wait, what?"

"It may be 'Dragliner' to you twerps." Jessie sneered, "But to us it's the herald of a brand new Team Rocket."

"New vehicle, new costumes, new motto and a brand new winning streak!" James declared.

"I dunno." The other Destined looked down as Alan's eyes opened. "I kinda liked the old one better."

"And you guys should leave the streaking to Casey." Josh added.

"I'll ignore that." Casey replied darkly.

"Funny, twerps." Meowth smirked.

"Maybe we should call this the Oneliner in their 'honour'." James suggested, making air-quotes.

Jessie opened her mouth to ridicule this, then paused. "I actually like the sound of that." she admitted. The two Rockets then sank down into the newly dubbed Oneliner. "And now you HoennDoomed shall be 'honoured' to see what it can do. Oneliner, Twin Drive!"

"Get Ready." Kyle said, the Destined bracing themselves as the Oneliner shifted into it's robot mode, it's colour changing from black to purple, a yellow 'R' appearing on what was now it's chest. Quicker than thought, the Oneliner shot forward a hand, a capture claw lashing out from the palm and grabbing Alan before Casey could stop them. The claw retracted back into the Oneliner's massive hand, which easily covered Alan completely.

"Give him Back!" Casey screamed.

"Uh-huh." Jessie's voice replied, using Oneliner's free hand to wag a finger at them. "Do as we say or..."

"She said LET HIM GO!" Kendrix screamed, flying up and unleashing a powerful psychic attack the others couldn't remember her using before. It bounced off Oneliner without doing anything of note (couple of screws loose... wait, Jessie's always like that. -ed), then Oneliner back-handed Kendrix into the ground.

"Last warning." Jessie said.

"WAIT!" Tommy popped out of his Ultra Ball, stopping Casey as she pulled out Meganium's Pokéball. "Alright." he told the Rockets. "What do you want?"

---

Meowth remained behind in Oneliner's cockpit (leaving it in robot mode but with the second drive deactivated) as Jessie and James set about imprisoning the Destined, who groaned as Jessie produced another bottle of Super Glue. "Pipe down." she warned them. "Fortunately for you twerps, I only have one of these left. But I'm sure we can spread this around fairly."

"And after that..." James grinned, holding up some rope.

After a moment's thought, Jessie used the glue to stick Ryo and Josh back-to-back, then James moved in and tied their hands and feet together. Then Jessie stuck Kyle and Casey together, making certain to keep the two pairs well away from each other. While James tied up Kyle, Casey squirmed as Jessie used the last of the Super Glue to stick Casey's underwear to her skin. "You're enjoying that a little too much." Casey accused.

Jessie ignored this. "See you around, loser."

"You won't be needing this." James commented, grabbing Kyle's Crest by the chain and pulling it off him.

Jessie stood. "Now, to get what I came for. Meowth, drop him."

Oneliner let go and Alan dropped like a stone. Jessie walked over to Alan, plucking his D-Terminal from his pocket. She tapped a few controls, only for it to spark fire, causing her to drop it with a yell.

"I have an idea." James said, stopping the impending rant from occurring. He took the D-Terminal and walked over to Josh. "We want the Digi-Egg of Darkness. Show me how to release it."

Josh shook his head. "I know how, but only those who are worthy of the trait can use them. Alan might be the only that can release that Digi-Egg."

"Perhaps," James allowed. "But you've had your own dealings with Darkness, haven't you?"

"What makes you say that?" Josh asked, flinching.

"Because I see that same look in Jessie's eyes every day."

Josh blinked, trying to figure out James meaning as the male Rocket untied his hands. "Do it." James said.

"Or Else." Meowth's voice emphasised, one of Oneliner's legs twitching ominously.

Josh took the D-Terminal, his hand clenching. He caught Tommy's gaze, but the Charmander shook his head, silently telling him not to try anything. With a sigh, Josh extracted the Digi-Egg of Darkness, holding it out to James, a shiver running down his spine. "Take it." he spat.

James reached for the Digi-Egg but it glowed, lashing out and burning him. "Ow!"

"Always thought you were too soft." Jessie growled, snatching the Darkness Egg without any trouble. James cringed, then took back the D-Terminal and retied Josh's hands.

Jessie held out the two Ultra Balls, recalling Tommy and Kendrix; the latter wasn't happy about this, but neither put up a protest.

"Oi, James." Meowth called down. "Don't forget to tie up the twerpette."

"That's original." Casey grumbled. James pocketed the D-Terminal, then walked over to Casey and tied up her feet.

"Just when I was starting to like you." Casey growled. James didn't seem to hear this, lost in his own thoughts.

"James, hurry up." Jessie yelled, already reboarding the Oneliner with everyone's Pokéballs, backpacks etc. The only things Team Rocket weren't bothered taking were the Digivices, as they knew them to be useless.

"I'm almost done." James called back as he tied Casey's wrists together. He then wandered over to Alan's unconscious form and kicked him over, elicting a squeal of protest from Casey. James bent down "Well twerp, it was nicer knowing you than I care to admit." he said. "Thank you for all the bottle caps."

Casey burst into tears at this point and the boys felt their hearts sink. James's words sounded far too much like a eulogy.

James bent lower, his mouth to Alan's ear. "You deserved a better death, my friend." he whispered. After a few moments silence, he stood up, then jumped aboard Oneliner.

The mighty robot began to rise, hovering in the air for a moment before transforming back to it's bomber form and flying away, only the sound of Casey's tears in it's wake.

---

It was a good ten minutes before it finally sank into Team Rocket's that they'd gotten away with it and they whooped with joy.

"I can't believe we actually won that." Meowth cheered. "Ain't that a breach of contract or something?"

"Not if it's in the script." James shrugged. "Then it's a writers issue."

Just then a light began to blink. "Someone's calling us." Jessie realised. She pushed a few buttons.

"Greetings." Giovanni said, his face filling the screen.

"BOSS!" Jessie and Meowth chorused with delight.

"Boy are you a sight for sore eyes!" Meowth grinned.

"Thank you." Giovanni replied. "Given that the mecha appears to be intact, can I take it your task was completed successfully?"

The feral smile on Jessie's face said it all. "Completely and utterly, boss." she said. "The fools didn't even know what hit them."

"Excellent." Giovanni looked at James. "Is something wrong?"

James shook his head to clear it. "Sorry Boss." he said. "It is good to see you again."

"I believe that." Giovanni commented. "Tell me."

James sighed. "I was... beginning to get quite fond of one of the twerps. Even though we were enemies, he treated me as if we were friends. And now it looks like he's going to die."

"As I said, you're getting soft." Jessie snorted.

"Watch yourself Jessie." Giovanni said softly. "No-one should take death lightly. One day the death nobody mourns may very well be your own."

Jessie subsided, clearly disturbed by the thought. "Your point is taken."

"Very well." Giovanni started typing, the Rockets realising he was using a laptop. "I'm sending you the co-ordinates of our new base. Meet me there."

"Understood." the three chorused and Giovanni blinked out.

"I wonder what he uses for a laptop..." James mused.

"I wonder what he use for a webcam..." Meowth added.

"Enough chat." Jessie said. "Let's go see our new home."

---

In the cargo hold, as the plane turned round, a few of the Pokéballs fell out of the bag they'd been stored in. One, an Ultra Ball promptly expanded and snapped open, revealing Kendrix, who let out a shrill cry of anguish. Psychic energy blasted out, only to dissipate against the walls. Still she attacked, using her Extrasensory to try to feel for weaknesses in walls her powers said _weren't there_.

The other Ultra Ball expanded inside the bag and Tommy appeared from it. "Kendrix, stop it!" he ordered, grabbing her wings. "You'll just wear yourself out."

"Let me go!" Kendrix screamed.

Tommy blinked, not used to hearing Kendrix's normal voice, but held on, forcing the Delta Fearow to the floor. "STOP IT!" he roared, with all the authority of being the elder by five years.

After a few moments struggle, Kendrix stopped fighting and began to cry.

"I know, I know." Tommy said. "But he'll be alright. They're Destined. They'll figure something out."

"You weren't looking for his mind." Kendrix replied. "It's so quiet, I could barely hear it. Now we're in this thing, I can't hear him at all."

"He'll be alright." Tommy said. "I'm sure of it. But... if the worst happens, we'll know..."

"True."

"I've never heard your real voice before." Tommy added. "It's nice."

Kendrix blushed.

---

The Destined had lapsed into silence, none of them quite managing to process the morning's events. Lost in his own thoughts, Kyle thanked Aruseus and whatever other gods were listening that Team Magma hadn't found them in this state. He then became conscious of his DNA partner crying again, more quietly this time.

"Casey?" he asked and sensed her nodding. "Are you ok?"

"I've wet myself." Casey admitted meekly.

"Oh." Kyle shook this off. "Guys, you ok?"

"As well as can be expected." Ryo sighed.

"Yeah, just about." Josh agreed. "Anyone else tried to get their ropes off?"

They hadn't, Josh's words prompting Ryo and Kyle to try and free their own hands.

"No good." Kyle grimaced. "James ties good knots."

"Too good." Ryo agreed. Then he noticed Casey hadn't moved. "Casey, why don't you try yours?"

"What's the point?" Casey asked in a soft, bitter voice. "Even if we could get the ropes loose, we're still glued together. And how long do you think we'll last without our Pokémon or any of our things? We're dead."

"Come on Casey," Ryo said, "just try."

"For me?" Kyle suggested lightly.

"Funny." Casey managed a small smile, then made a half-hearted attempt to pull off the ropes... which promptly fell open with ease. "What?"

"I think," Josh said slowly, "we owe James an apology." Ryo nodded, amazed.

--*(("Oi, James." Meowth called down. "Don't forget to tie up the twerpette."

"That's original." James heard Casey saying as he rotated through the remaining Egg's, looking at each of them in turn, stopping on the Digi-Egg of Light.))*--

"What gives you that idea?" Casey asked, untying her legs. "We still have to get the glue off."

"Try my left pocket." Kyle said, frowning as Casey shifted around. "I think there might be something in there that wasn't before."

"Oh, so NOW you want me in your pants?" Casey teased. Kyle blushed. Reaching back, Casey felt around. Kyle sweatdropped nervously. After a moment, Casey found a grip and pulled. Ryo and Josh let out a breath they didn't realise they'd been holding as Casey removed an object from Kyle's pocket, then all gaped as they recognised a bottle of glue dissolver.

--*(("You're enjoying that too much." James heard Casey say as he slipped the bottle into Kyle's pocket, holding the teens gaze and thus knowing that he hadn't felt a thing.))*--

"Try to get us loose, would you?" Kyle said, then looked round as he heard someone approach.

"I'll try, but aiming this is going to be tricky." Casey replied. She froze as a hand took hold of the bottle.

"Why don't you let me do that?"

Casey's eyes widened. "It can't be." she breathed, then smiled, brightening up. "You're alright!"

"You know me, Casey." Alan smiled. "I'm not the dying type."

Taking the bottle, Alan slowly used the bottle to dissolve the Glue. No sooner had she been separated from Kyle than Casey tackled Alan, knocking him to the ground and kissing him deeply.

"Is there something going on between you two?" Kyle asked sardonically.

As the kiss broke, Alan rolled them so that he was the one on top. "Whatever gives you that idea?" he asked breathlessly. Casey giggled.

"Little help here?" Josh prompted.

"Give me a moment Josh." Alan got up, then frowned as he felt something in his pocket. He pulled it out and everyone stared.

*(("You won't be needing this." James commented, grabbing Kyle's Crest by the chain and pulling it off him, a plan already forming.))*--

"I think this is yours." Alan said, holding up Kyle's Crest.

"But how?" Kyle asked as Alan untied his hands. "Not that I'm complaining, but you were all but dead."

"I think I know." Josh said softly as Casey grabbed the bottle of dissolver. "What else do you have in that pocket, Alan?"

--*((James bent lower, his mouth to Alan's ear. "You deserved a better death, my friend." he whispered, slipping the D-Terminal into Alan's pocket, along with Kyle's Crest. _That's all I can do_ he realised, then stood up, then jumped aboard Oneliner. _The rest is up to them..._))*--

"Smart Man, that James." Alan commented, looking at the Digi-Egg of Light, displayed on the D-Terminal's screen.

"I'm not sure I get it." Kyle admitted as Casey started freeing Ryo and Josh.

"Well, Crests are basically amplifiers," Alan said, "designed to boost a particular type of energy many-fold. In the case of your Crest, Light, the same energy my Digi-Egg of Light runs off. And as we've seen, the power of light can heal."

"The Crest absorbed some or all of the energy the Digi-Egg was putting out and boosted it, helping to revive you." Josh said.

"Yeah."

"So... the Digi-Egg used the Crest to help you?" Casey asked, finishing

"Yes and no." Ryo mused. "By itself, the Digi-Egg wouldn't know to feed power into the Crest. I think James did it; he wanted Alan alive and put the Crest and D-Terminal together to try to save him. Digi Egg responded to his wishes, even if they were unspoken." As he said this, Casey managed to get his hands free. "Thanks." Ryo said, bending down to untie his legs.

"No problem." Casey replied. As she started working on freeing Josh's hands. Casey looked over at her boyfriend. "So are you alright now?"

"I guess." Alan frowned. "What happened to my Darkness Egg?"

"Team Rocket has it." Kyle replied. "Along with all of our Pokémon and our things."

Alan felt in his pockets and came up with a small flute. "Not all of our stuff." he grinned.

"What is that?" Kyle asked as Alan began to play.

"It's a Feather Flute." Ryo said. "I've never seen one before though."

"I have." Casey said, remembering Alan playing the same flute at Thunder Hill.

---

"That was... wow." Tommy gasped, both Pokémon panting for breath.

:Yes: Kendrix agreed, having calmed down enough to revert to her normal telepathic speech. She gave Tommy a bemused look. :So what took you so long?:

Tommy chuckled. "Just waiting for the right moment, I guess."

Kendrix chuckled, then her expression changed.

"What is it?" Tommy asked as Kendrix stood up, her head swivelling around as she listened to sounds only she could here.

:I... I can hear the Feather Flute.: Kendrix said slowly, then her eyes bulged out. "It's Alan! He's alive!"

"Are you sure?" Tommy asked. "Could it be one of the others?"

"I... :I don't think any of them would know how to play the flute, certainly not well enough to lie.: Kendrix replied. :It's him.:

"Then we are OUT OF HERE!" Tommy had been so worried about Kendrix, he hadn't realised how badly Alan's probable death had affected him. Now new hope and energy surged through him...

And Kendrix gaped in awe as Tommy burst into white light...

---

After a few minutes, Alan stopped. "That ought to do it. Now we just have to wait."

"So... what is a Feather Flute?" Kyle asked.

"It's a way of communicating with Flying-Type Pokémon." Alan said. "I just called Kendrix, so everyone and everything should be back shortly."

"She's have heard that?" Josh asked, surprised. "What, is that a magic flute or something?"

"After everything you've seen, is that so hard to believe?" Alan asked, grinning. "With this baby Kendrix could hear me if she was halfway across Hoenn at a Rock concert.

"There they are!" The Destined whirled around as a group of Magma's appeared, accompanied by several Houndoom and Mightyena. One, obviously the leader of the group, was also with a large orange and white monkey with fire coming out of it's head, an eye-patch were one of it's eyes should have been.

"Who's that Pokémon?" Casey gaped, as Alan and Kyle tried not to drool.

"Infernape. It's from Sinnoh." Ryo said. Josh started to pull out his Pokédex, but Ryo waved him down. "Don't bother, it won't be on there."

"You children are in a lot of trouble!" the Magma Leader challenged. "Breaking into our lair, having the nerve to use part of our territory as a campsite, and attacking my men! Now for your insolence, you will feel our wrath."

"Sir!" One of the Magma Grunts said as something clicked. "One of them is missing, but otherwise these kids match the descriptions of the kids from the Game Corner!"

"Aw, how sweet," Casey said, "they've heard of us." That sent a ripple of anger through the Magma's.

"You know, it's lucky for us we ran into you." Alan told the Magma Leader.

"Lucky?" the man echoed.

"Oh, yes. You see, our Pokémon seem to have gone on a little vacation," _that_ took the Magma's by surprise, "and we needed something to do in the meantime."

"You don't have any Pokémon?" The Magma Leader asked in amazement, then laughed. "You fools don't stand a chance against us all alone."

"A Digidestined is never alone!" Alan declared. "Now let us show you the heat of our strength! Fiery Adventurer!" He clicked his fingers. "BoukenRed!"

"Fast Adventurer!" Josh declared, the other Destined playing along. He clapped, once. "BoukenBlack!"

"Up-High Adventurer!" Kyle called, slapping his thigh and managing not to look silly doing so. "BoukenBlue!"

"Strong Adventurer!" Casey called, doing motions she knew by heart. "BoukenYellow!"

"Dazzling Adventurer!"

"Damn!"

Ryo punched his palm with his fist. "BoukenSilver!" he finished, then grinned at Alan's disappointed look.

"Theatrics from television won't save you!" The Magma Leader declared, not noticing the way some of the Pokémon were backing away nervously.

"Endless Sprits of Adventure!" Alan declared.

"Gou Gou Sentai, Boukenger!" The HoennDestined called together, a massive explosion ripping up the ground behind them, the team united together.

"Destroy them!" the Magma Leader ordered. With Infernape at their head, the Magma Pokémon attacked, their trainers close behind them.

"Attack!" Alan ordered, complete with another finger-click.

And, united as one, the HoennDestined charged to greet their foes.

---

The light faded leaving Tommy in Charmeleon form.

:You're lucky.: Kendrix said. :Not many Charmanders can claim to have evolved to Charmeleon twice.:

"I'd forgotten what normal evolution was like." Tommy commented softly.

:How was it?: Kendrix asked. It was a long time since her own evolution at Saffron Gym, fighting Sabrina's Alakazam.

Tommy smirked. "Second best experience I've had today."

Kendrix blushed. "Likewise." she said. :Are you going to stay like this?:

"Not if I can help it." Tommy replied. "For one thing, I like being a Charmander."

:And the other?:

"A trade secret; I'll tell you later when a certain other Charmeleon isn't listening in."

One of the Poké Balls on the floor rattled at this, but otherwise didn't respond.

Kendrix cringed. "I'd forgotten." she admitted. Quickly, she filled all of the still-balled Pokémon what the pair had planned as Tommy collected the Poké Balls that had been scattered and put all but one back in the bag. This one, he opened, revealing Taillow.

"We need you to carry this." Tommy said, tying up the bag with some nearby string. "No matter what happens to Kendrix and myself, get everyone else back to the others."

"No problem." Taillow replied confidently.

A few minutes were spent working Alan's backpack onto Kendrix's shoulders without breaking the straps, and then Kendrix took hold of the other four in her claws.

"So how do we get out of here?" Tallow asked Kendrix scornfully. "I notice you didn't have any luck. And you call yourself a Flying-type..."

"Taillow?" Tommy asked.

Taillow sweatdropped as he noticed Tommy glowing orange. "Uh... yes?"

"Don't mess with my girlfriend."

The Oneliner shook as an Overheat blast ripped through the wall, the wall behind that and then the hull, creating an exit in very short order.

---

"What was that?" James yelped.

"At a guess, I'd say it was a jailbreak." Meowth said.

"Well, then, let's stop them!" Jessie said.

"Overliner is on auto-pilot." James reported. "Atmospheric shielding is on-line."

"Then come on!" Jessie said.

---

"Ok." Taillow squeaked, not willing to mess with Tommy after _that_ show of power.

Tommy chuckled. "Go, get out of here you two."

:What about you?: Kendrix asked as Taillow fled the plane.

"I'll follow shortly. There's one last thing to get."

Kendrix nodded and flew out, hoping Team Rocket wouldn't use the Overliner against them. She quickly spotted Taillow, flying in circles. :What's wrong?:

"Which way is it?" Taillow asked, exasperated.

Kendrix closed her eyes, listening with her mind. :That way.: she said pointing with her beak. :Feels like they're fighting someone.:

"Are they in trouble?"

:Probably:

Taillow frowned. "You're staying, aren't you?"

:He's going to need a ride back: Kendrix said :And... I have to. Any problem with that?:

"No." Taillow admitted. He smirked. "For a showgirl, you ain't so bad."

:'Showgirl'?: Kendrix asked, mock offended. "I am a headliner."

Taillow laughed, then turned and headed for the Destined, using Quick Attack to help himself accelerate.

---

Team Rocket entered the cargo hold to find Tommy waiting.

"I knew one of these fools would still be here." Jessie smirked.

"I want the Egg, Jessie." Tommy growled.

"Oh, I don't think so." Jessie smirked, holding up a black D-Terminal.

Tommy's eyes widened. "Where did you get that?"

"The Egg made it." Jessie replied. "It seems to think I'm good company."

"You don't have the slightest idea what you're messing with." Tommy said grimly. "Darkness by its own nature is a pervasive, corrosive force, which feeds on evil. And if you use it carelessly, for evil purposes, it will _consume_ you."

"Thanks for the tip," Jessie drawled, "but the Egg is staying with me. CRIMSON LIGHTNING!"

Tommy gaped as Jessie created an energy whip, but he'd been in two many fights for such a simple attack to work. He grabbed the whip as it snapped towards him, wincing as it bit into his hand. "Nice try." he smiled.

"NO!" James and Meowth cried, grabbing the whip simultaneously, James wincing, somehow finding the strength to stop Tommy from yanking Jessie towards him.

"You're not just fighting her, pal." Meowth snarled, before jumping, pushing off of James and propelling himself down the length of the whip, without any visible discomfort. Tommy tried to let go, but the whip, fulfilling its function, held firm. As Meowth neared, he let go, raking Tommy's side with a Cut attack, causing the Charmeleon to howl in pain. A moment later, the whip faded as Jessie grabbed her arm in pain, dropping the D-Terminal.

Hissing in pain at what felt like a Critical Hit, Tommy turned to face Meowth and was horrified to see the Crest of Darkness in the cat's eyes. He looked at Jessie and James, seeing the same Crest in their eyes. -_It's no good_.- he thought. _-They're under the Digi-Egg's control now_.-

"Let's get him." Jessie said. "Go, Seviper, Arbok!"

"Weezing, Cacnea!" James concurred.

Tommy's eyes were on Jessie. -_She has the Digi-Egg.- _he thought. -_To get it back, it looks like I'm going to have to kill her._-

As he thought this, the called Pokémon appeared, quickly followed by Wobbuffet, as he usually did. "Wahb!"

-_Shit.-_ Tommy thought. -_I'd forgotten about him_-

"Daddy!" Cacnea called, its voice revealing it as female, turning around and trying to hug James.

"Daddy?" James inquired, the Crests in his eyes flickering.

"Well, well." Meowth purred, seeing Tommy's face pale. "Looks like the birdie's still around.

-_Kendrix, no!_- Tommy thought desperately. -_Get out of here!_-

:I'm not leaving you: Kendrix thought back, calmly stating a fact.

"Hey, lizard-boy," Meowth called, "Forget the others, your fight is with me."

As Cacnea jumped down to join the others, Tommy glanced back at the other Pokémon anyway and the truth hit him. -_None of them have Crests in their eyes! Well, maybe Wobbuffet; who can tell with that squint_?-

"Very well," he said. "But I'm hardly worried. You aren't exactly high on the major threat list."

"Ah, but dat was the old me." Meowth started to glow, then exploded into red light.

"Wow." Wobbuffet commented. Tommy backed away, the rest of the room watching in awe as the form shifted in front of them. The light faded.

"So," Weavile asked, stepping forward, "what do ya think of the new me?"

Tommy frowned. He wasn't familiar with this Pokémon, but it seemed to be related to Sneasel, the Dark Pokémon.

The Dark/Ice Pokémon...

-_And I'm in a form that's part Dragon. Wonderful._- Tommy thought. He glanced at the D-Terminal as Jessie picked it up. -_The Darkness Digi-Egg must have influenced his evolution. And what else would a Dark Digi-Egg create but a Dark Pokémon?_- "Let's dance." he told Weavile, then leapt forward, charging a Dragon Claw.

Weavile tensed with fear for a moment, then lashed out with a paw, several small objects battering Tommy and stopping him in his tracks.

Weavile realised what the objects were and laughed at the irony. -_Now, when I stop being a Meowth, I learn Pay Day. Then again, what about this whole thing is in the rulebook?_-

Weavile lunged forward with a Cut attack, but this time Tommy dodged back, Weavile's claw raking empty air.

"FIRE ROCKET!" Tommy called, launching himself back. As he neared the ceiling, he flipped over, pushed off with his feet and Rocketed towards Weavile, charging a Dragon Claw in each hand. Weavile jumped back, Tommy's attacks ripping through the floor. Weavile did his own flip, his feet landing on the wall.

"SHADOW DRIVE!" Exploding with energy, Weavile vanished briefly, the Ghost attack catching Tommy by surprise and smashing him into the wall. He slumped to the floor, stunned.

"ICE BEAM!" A blue-white beam vomited from Weavile's mouth, freezing Tommy solid. "Bet you wish you were a normal Charmeleon now, Dragon wannabe!" Weavile crowed.

"He did it!" James cheered.

"Impressive!" Arbok agreed.

"They grow up so fast." Weezing agreed.

"So, the bird did stick around." Jessie realised.

:I'm here: Kendrix's mental voice echoed.

"Well then, listen up!" Jessie called. "Give back all things we rightfully stole or Weavile guts your friend like a fish."

:I expected you to say something like that.: Kendrix commented. :Now let me tell you something: While the boys were playing, I was working my way into your mecha's structure. You may be shielded from me on the outside, but inside is a completely different story.: The entire Oneliner glowed purple, creaking ominously. :So unless you want to be crushed down to the size of tennis ball, you'll let Tommy go. _Now_:

"I'm keeping the Digi-Egg!" Jessie shot back.

"I wasn't inquiring about the Digi-Egg." Kendrix retorted. :Let. Him. GO!:

"I'm scared, Daddy." Cacnea whimpered.

"It's ok." Wobbuffet said, patting the small cactus before turning to look at it's trainer. "You'd better do it."

Jessie scowled, then deflated. "Fine."

As Cacnea jumped into James's arms for comfort, Weavile yelled and shattered the ice surrounding Tommy with a claw, causing the Charmeleon to drop to the floor. As his thoughts cleared, Tommy looked up. "Get out of here." Weavile told him.

Tommy would have preferred to continue, but he knew when he was outmatched and out of strength. Picking himself up, he stumbled towards the hole in the side of Oneliner and jumped out. He was in freefall for a couple of seconds, then Kendrix appeared underneath him. He landed and steadied himself on her, then she kicked in her Agility and sped away.

"Do we go after them?" Weavile asked.

"No." James said. "We're no match for that Fearow in our present condition. Besides, I'm growing quite fond of this one."

"It would be a shame if we lost the Oneliner." Jessie agreed. "But how are we going to tell the boss we lost all of our ill-gotten goods?"

"Well," James said with a smirk, "not _all_ of them..."

---

Meanwhile, the Destined were easily a match for their foes, despite being horribly outnumbered. Alan didn't have _that_ problem, mainly because he'd done the obviously stupid thing to do and jumped straight into battle with Infernape. The rest of the combatants had unanimously made a silent decision to leave the two alone.

Now, had the battle continued, Alan would have lost: Being an experienced brawler with special powers is no good when you're fighting an experienced brawler with special powers who also happens to be an Ultimate level Fire Monkey. However, three things turned things in his favour. First was that Infernape was clearly enjoying the fight just as much as his opponent, and thus was holding back.

Second was the sudden appearance of Taillow and with it (almost) all of their Pokémon part-way through, evening the battle out rather nicely. The third was Casey introducing a Baseball-Bat-From-Hammerspace to a rather sensitive area of the Magma Leader's anatomy. The Magma side caved in rather quickly after that.

---

Knowing their own luck, Team Rocket was unsurprised when Giovanni called.

"I understand there was a disturbance." Giovanni said smoothly, knowing this because his laptop had informed him of this, though he wasn't going to say so.

"Uh, yes." Jessie admitted sheepishly. "Two of the Pokémon broke out of the hold and escaped with the others..."

"...along with most of their stuff." James added. "Fortunately I'd already removed some of the more choice items to a different location."

"Anything of special value to the Digi-Destined?"

"Oh yes." Jessie said. "The... choicest item we took remains with us." She held up the black D-Terminal, the Digi-Egg of Darkness rotating slowly on the screen.

"Interesting." Giovanni commented slowly. "A pity you couldn't keep any of the Pokémon." This wasn't a question.

"Not a chance." Weavile shrugged. "Dat bird wouldn't have allowed that, not after the psychic shielding was compromised."

"Meowth?" Giovanni asked in visible disbelief.

"Formerly." Weavile replied, grinning. "As you can see, even the jailbreak had its compensations."

"I see." Giovanni said. "Do you consider your mission a success?"

"The mecha hasn't exploded." James replied. "That's a bloody miracle in itself."

Giovanni barked a laugh. "Very well." he declared. "I look forward to your arrival."

"Yes sir!" the three chorused jubilantly.

They were back.

---

In another location, Giovanni cut the connection. "That didn't surprise you." Murmuxmon commented.

"An unqualified success would have been to much to ask for, even of me." Giovanni said. "An escape was predictable. But Jessie and Weavile have promise...and he certainly _did_ surprise me. An interesting development."

"Indeed. And the human male... James?" Murmuxmon asked.

"Him, I'm not so sure about." Giovanni admitted. "Something about his eyes is...familiar."

A message suddenly came on the screen right in front of Giovanni and his two Digimon 'cohorts'. It was from one of his many agents. "Sir, we got the video tape you asked for."

Giovanni smirked and said, "Excellent. Put it on screen now."

A few seconds later, video of Trey, Dakarimon and Trey's Pokémon appeared on the screen, doing significant amounts of damage to Digidestined, Magma and Aqua alike.

Murmuxmon looked at the screen, utterly fascinated. "Interesting…" The images around Trey were too blurry to make out anyone else on the scene at the time, due to all the steam in the Courthouse building at the time.

---

"So how much have they taken?" Kyle asked.

Tommy and Kendrix had arrived at the Destined's location to find the battle practically over. Tommy had returned to Charmander form, much to his relief and was now asleep in his Poké Ball. The Magma's were all either unconscious tied up, their Pokémon returned to their Poké Balls...except Infernape, who had borrowed Cody-the-Nuzleaf's flute and was playing a Irish-sounding tune to pass the time.

(Editor's Note: A good deal of Digital Energy remained in the area of Thunder Hill following the battle against Missingno in Nature's Law. Besides, it don't take that much to devolve.)

"Looks like they've got all my cash, the Nuggets, that bag of Stardust and of course my Darkness Digi-Egg." Alan said. "Everything else is here." He'd been very relieved to get his laptop back.

"Basically the same for all of us." Ryo said. "Cash and valuables only."

"So we broke, but we're hardly in trouble." Casey said.

"I can see what I can find on the way back," Birch offered, "and I'm sure we can find someone who'll buy some things off us so we can get cash."

"Why do we have to go back?" Josh asked. "We've beaten the Magma's."

"No." Everyone turned to look at Infernape, who regarded them with both eyes; one of Alan's Hand of Fate blasts had unwittingly restored the missing one. "This is but a small portion of the total force present at Fiery Path. Besides, you would not get past the traps."

"Then we'd better get going," Josh said, "before anyone else turns up."

"You don't have to stay with him, you know." Alan said, indicating the group leader.

"Thank you." Infernape said to Cody, returning his flute. "And yes, I do. He's my trainer, after all."

"Can't argue with that." Alan said. He reached up and shook hands. "It was an honour to fight with you."

"Likewise." Infernape said.

With that, Infernape began the process of dragging and/or carrying the various Magmas back to base. The Destined recalled their Pokémon (except for Birch, Electrike and Poochyena, all of whom wanted to stay out) and headed off on their way.

"He was an Infernape, then?" Alan asked.

"He was." Ryo said, "Last form in the Chimchar line, the Fire Starter of Sinnoh region. One of only a few fire types in that area."

"I want one."

----

Next Time: The HoennDestined cross the Sandstorm Desert, but not all is well inside of Hoenn, as its greatest threat arrives.

Digicross Advanced 39: "Trinity of Evil".


	9. RoD 9: Trinity of Evil

Narrator: Last time, on Digicross Advanced, the bumble squad did something right for the first time in their career.

Jessie: That's completely unfair!

James: Yeah! We've done things right before…

Weavile: We just had it all go wrong every time!

Narrator: *clears throat* As I was saying… last time, the bumble squad did something right for the first time since they lost their self-proclaimed "meal ticket", Trey Miller.

Jessie: That's better!

Narrator: But, some of their "cargo" escaped from the Oneliner, essentially reducing Team Rocket's potential take. However, some careful planning assured they didn't lose everything.

Weavile: We're da new Team Rocket! And we ain't fools anymore!

Narrator: … The most important prize, the Digi-Egg of Darkness, remained with Jessie, and was now being delivered to Team Rocket Hoenn HQ. Giovanni had also made an interesting discovery, and was planning his journey toward the Rocket Base… Meanwhile, the Digidestined, still recovering from the shock of their most recent crisis, began the next leg of their journey, through the Sandstorm Desert, so named because of its affinity toward… well, you know.

Jessie: Even James could figure THAT one out…

James: *looks hurt*

Narrator: ANYWAY! We now continue with Digicross Advanced!

Digicross Advanced Episode 39: "Trinity of Evil"

Episode Written by Josh Johannesen

Edited by Alan Wilkinson

-Island off the mainland; farther east than Mossdeep Island-

Giovanni emerged from a hidden bunker, looking very pleased with himself as he walked toward the waiting helicopter. He snickered and looked toward the sky, then off toward the continent ahead of him. "So, that is Trey Miller… far more interesting than I would have realized…"

Murmuxmon was also extremely amused by the events which had just transpired, and walked just behind the human, ready for some conquering of his own. MetalDevidramon was outright bored, and wanted something to smash up and/or kill. He was ready to move alongside the helicopter via flying.

An escorting grunt asked her boss, "What do you plan to do with regards to Miller?"

Giovanni's response was short and sweet. "Simple; we let him come to us. No need to get ourselves into a manhunt."

Murmuxmon concurred with the 'powerful' human. "If what we saw on that video is true, then he has no allegiance to the other three 'factions' in Hoenn. He will come to us in due time." All three evil villains continued to walk as the helicopter began to fire up its engines, the rotor cutting through the otherwise serene environment.

However, as the two Digimon approached the helicopter on the west side of the island, both would begin to feel an incredible strain on their forms. Murmuxmon was able to stay on his feet, but MetalDevidramon fell to one knee, breathing hard. "What… is going on here?"

Murmuxmon stopped and frowned, knowing exactly what it was. "It's exactly as I had heard. There is absolutely no connection between this continent and the Digital World."

MetalDevidramon grunted and groaned, causing Giovanni to look back and say, "Quit your whining, already!"

The metallic Digimon shot back, "I'd like to see YOU try to survive in a place like a volcano!"

This earned a glare from the crime boss, but Murmuxmon was quick to break it up. "Please; the last thing we need to do is begin in-fighting. It will make the job of our enemies far too easy."

It took a few moments of angry stares before both would back off. Murmuxmon continued the conversation, "If you want to go into Hoenn, MetalDevidramon, you will have to de-digivolve."

This idea didn't sit well with the Ultimate-level Digimon at all, "Why do you get to stay in your form, and I don't?!"

The answer was quite simple, at least according to Murmuxmon… "I'm the more powerful of the two of us. Thus, I'm your boss, and you have to do what I say."

More than a few grumbles left MetalDevidramon's mouth, prompting Murmuxmon to add a good point to his argument. "Besides, I can feed off of Giovanni's darkness and maintain my form. With a little more, I can maintain your form as well, but only as Devidramon."

This wasn't an argument that MetalDevidramon could… well, argue with. So, he began to glow with a white light, and shrank to a size which could fit inside the helicopter, before revealing a far less menacing version of himself. "You realize, of course, I'll be far less capable in this form, Lord Murmuxmon."

The mummy smirked. "I know… but, even a Champion-level Digimon is capable of much inside a region not known for any contact with Digimon."

"Perhaps." Giovanni said. "But do not underestimate what a well trained Pokemon can do."

As the three of them got into the helicopter, a shimmering startled Devidramon. "Whazzat?" He asked quickly.

With a smirk, Giovanni replied, "Relax… I'm expecting a guest." And sure enough, out of nowhere appeared a Shadow Celebi, much the evil counterpart to normal Celebi.

Murmuxmon put his fingers under his chin and smirked. "Interesting…"

Giovanni nodded and asked, "What do you know about Trey Miller?"

Most of what Celebi relayed to them was simply information they had gleaned from the tapes: that he was someone not to be trifled with, and that he could go off on anyone at any time.

This pleased Murmuxmon, who was a big fan of wanton destruction. But, what fascinated Giovanni the most was the revelation that Trey wasn't always a resident of Hoenn…

(Author's Note: For those who have read the original Digicross, you might recall Trey being from the future. But, this Celebi doesn't see that the same way, so she told them that he came from somewhere else… and not "somewhen" else.)

-Duneedge Town, along Route 111-

Alan had just returned to the small, non-descript town after a good run with Birch to find some general items of use. But, mostly finding things which they intended to sell to at least recoup some of their money back after all their ready cash had been stolen by Team Rocket.

Birch jumped around happily, "That was a good run, Alan!"

Alan knelt down and petted Birch on the head, feeding him a nugget of Pokémon food. "It sure was. You did very well. Now, you need to take a nice rest; we should have enough to get by until we reach the next major city." Birch took to the petting rather well, and then retreated into his Poké Ball.

Meanwhile, at the eastern end of town, the remainder of the Digidestined was trying to negotiate with the gate-minder to get out of town heading toward the desert. However, safety concerns abounded, as numerous signs around the guard station showed very clearly.

One sign in particular got a groan out of Ryo and out of Josh, but for completely different reasons. It showed a kid with a set of goggles over his eyes as protective eyewear, which would have been enough to make Ryo groan. But, below it was the worst catchphrase of all time. "Your mind boggles? Pass the desert with goggles!" Even Poochyena let out a sort of groaning bark at the advertising slogan.

This would have been the moment for the tearing down of said sign, and potentially getting in deep legal trouble, except that Kyle returned with some good news. "There's a stand here in town where we can buy some goggles so we can get outta here."

Casey, who had been waiting nearby for Alan to return, looked over at the young Trainer and nodded happily. "Good. That means we can leave this place sooner."

Josh then reminded Casey, in the most delicate way he could think of, "Don't forget… we've got some money issues right now."

It wasn't exactly reassuring to hear Josh say those things, but a stroke of luck came to them when the owner of the stand ran over to the 4 trainers. "You're looking for goggles so you can go into the desert, right?" A quick nod from each of the four trainers would confirm this fact, as if it weren't ridiculously obvious to begin with.

The man nodded and then smiled. "Well, this is your lucky day, then. Someone just came along and paid for a pair of goggles for each of you."

The excitement level was, needless to say, very high, as this meant they could now continue their journey into the desert. Ryo was a bit suspicious, as he had every right to be at this point. "Who paid for our goggles?" He asked in a curious tone.

The stand owner shook his head, "I'm afraid I can't tell you; told me to keep hush-hush about it and all that jazz."

Casey then interjected, "Who cares who paid for it? Now we can move on through the desert and get to Fallarbor Town!"

Kyle glanced over at the young lady and stated, "I didn't think you'd be so excited to head up there."

Casey's response was logically very simple. "The sooner we get through that desert, the sooner we can get back to the Gym Challenge."

A group sweatdrop later, and it was time to head to the stand to pick out their new eyewear. In the nearby bushes, two silhouettes stood and shook their heads. One voice spoke, "Normally, I wouldn't have done that, but-"

The other voice interrupted the first, "Yeah, yeah, if we don't, the time stream might have altered, and the future wouldn't be the same."

It would be at the stand that Alan would meet up with the remainder of his comrades, having acquired somewhere in the realm of 10,000 Poké. Not exactly a fortune, but it wasn't a bad start until the team could get themselves back on their feet.

"Damn, I keep forgetting about him." The left silhouette muttered, then shrugged before both took off. Surprisingly, the shadows weren't of a dog and his boy. (For those who understand that reference, congratulations! For those that don't, you need to watch more classic cartoons. –J) (I doubt I'm the only one who doesn't get it -A).

As Alan arrived, he would see, rather clearly, that the team was picking out new protective gear at a small stand in town. Alan walked up behind them and asked, "What are you doing?"

Josh would be the one to answer this question. "We're picking out some goggles… the man at the guard post won't let us through without them."

"Makes sense." Alan nodded. "We'd only get lost without them."

Casey chose that moment to exclaim, "Someone else paid for ours!"

"Really?" Alan asked. "Who?"

"The stand owner wouldn't say." Ryo replied, frowning. Alan met his gaze, the same suspicion forming.

"Whoever it was only paid for four, though." Josh noted.

"Not a problem." Alan replied. "Birch found enough that I could have paid for all of us, if need be."

As the others tried to decide on what goggles to get, Alan and Ryo approached the stand owner and tried to coax the identity of their mysterious benefactor out of him.

"I'm afraid he didn't give a name." the stand owner admitted after a minute.

Alan pulled a photograph from a pocket, checked to make sure it was the right one, then showed it to him. "Was it this man?"

For a moment, Ryo thought he saw recognition in the man's eyes. "Please, this could be very important."

The stand owner sighed. "Yeah, that's him." He gave the picture a strange look as he realised the photograph was actually a CCTV image, complete with time-code. "So, this guy's a friend of yours?"

"This man is a wanted criminal." Alan replied bluntly.

"What?" the stand owner gasped.

"It's true." Ryo said. "In answer to your question, it would be fairer to say he's an acquaintance of ours."

"An acquaintance who went crazy and killed people over in Mauville." Alan noted.

"Oh..." The stand owner didn't know what to think about that. "So why'd he pay for the goggles?"

"That," Alan replied, "is a very good question."

---

In the end, after about 30 minutes of browsing, each member of the team had their own pair of goggles. Each one was basically a pair of eye protectors on a colored frame (Think Takato's from Tamers. –J) Some selections were obvious, like Casey's yellow, Ryo's red, and Josh's blue. Kyle's green wasn't a huge surprise either. This left Alan with a bit of a dilemma, because he'd wanted to get green ones.

But then he saw what looked to be something akin to the VISOR from Star Trek, but coloured in green and gold. Reading the box told him that not only would this eyewear protect his eyes from the sand, but it also had built in night vision and infrared vision, along with a few other functions.

"It doesn't do x-ray vision, does it?" Casey asked suspiciously.

Alan gave his girlfriend a bemused look. "Your point being?" he inquired dryly, the unspoken '_I've already seen __**you**__ naked_' hanging in the air.

Casey blushed. "Because I wouldn't trust you with x-ray vision."

"As well you shouldn't." Alan chuckled.

He was given even more reason to chuckle when he saw the price: 2,500 Poke. They would have been 5,000 Poke, but they appeared to be 50% off. "They weren't selling." was the stand owner's simple explanation.

--

With new equipment in hand, or rather on head, the Destined were able to push their way past the guard station, and begin their trek toward the desert.

As they began to approach, the winds were already beginning to pick up, and the two Pokémon who had decided to stay out were having problems staying on their feet. Poochyena took to barking at the wind, while Electrike decided to just hide behind Casey.

"We'd better call them back." Josh said. "Poochyena, return!" Casey did the same with Electrike and all five Trainers entered the desert, Alan taking Casey's hand as they did. Goggles or no goggles, he had no intention of losing her.

What they didn't know was that far above them, the Digidestined were being watched… nor were they aware of another young man who entered Dune Edge in search of one of them…

--

Deep inside Sandstorm Desert, as the sands continued to whip up all around, a helicopter was coming in for a landing. Now, under normal circumstances, these would have been hazardous conditions. But, for someone harboring a powerful Digimon and his ally, deflecting the sand back so that they could land was nothing more than child's play.

They were landing at a pad near a building nestled in the southeast corner of the desert. Like the chopper itself, it was painted black, which was odd for a desert. But, unlike the chopper, the building had a big "R" painted upon it. This was Team Rocket's Hoenn HQ, a place which really hadn't seen its boss in a very long time.

As a direct result of this monumentous occasion, many of the staff of this base were outside, ready to salute the arrival of the Boss.

Minutes later, the chopper landed, and out came 3 creatures. A human whom all of the Rockets adored and admired; a Digimon whose aura exuded such evil that he commanded immediate respect from all the evil forces gathered before him; and a creature who didn't look nearly as impressive, but whose killer instinct was quickly shown on a random Vibrava happening by the base for absolutely no reason at all. An eclectic bunch by all accounts and measures.

Shadow Celebi had since disappeared again to continue her travels through the world and through time to discover more information for use later.

None of that really mattered now, though, for the base had just received its new prize. A random Admin would greet Giovanni at the door and tell him all about it. "Sir, our scientists examining the Digi-Egg of Darkness that Jessie and James brought back."

Giovanni nodded lightly. "Good. It's about time the bumble squad actually did something right."

The Admin then said something which wasn't so good. "According to their report, they had claimed much more from those children, but much of it...escaped."

"I know." Giovanni replied simply. "I've already been in contact with them. After all the years of failure those three incompetent idiots have produced, for them to even show up with anything is remarkable. However, I would like to hear one thing from _you_: Besides the egg, what _did_ they bring back?"

"Cash and various things to turn into cash. Also, the OneLiner suffered some damage in the escape, but the mech's self-repair systems were already half-done repairing it by the time Jessie and James got back... it should have finished by now. And Weavile, of course. Our scientists are trying to figure out how the hell _that_ happened."

"The Digi-Egg might have had something to do with it." Giovanni suggested.

"We had that thought, sir." the Admin replied. "we're looking into it."

Giovanni dismissed the Admin with a wave and the three walked on. "Curiouser and curiouser." Giovanni mused.

Murmuxmon interjected with an evil laugh. "I'm amazed you put up with those three for as long as you have."

"I simply forgot about them." Giovanni shrugged. "Otherwise, they would have been out a long time ago."

Devidramon cackled and noted, "Normally, such forgetfulness gets a villain into trouble. But, for you, it might have worked out perfectly."

"Perhaps." Giovanni replied. "Though perhaps they simply needed...prompting."

All 3 evil-doers continued walking into the base. It was fairly spacious for a place which had been sparsely funded over the years. The standard office building feel permeated the location, except with computers behind every door which had data on various subjects.

Murmuxmon was less interested in the building, and more interested in the Darkness Digi-Egg. But, before they could make their way to the room which now contained it, Giovanni's phone rang. The man scoffed, and then picked up. "This is Giovanni."

The very short conversation which followed led Giovanni to say simply, "I'm on my way." He hung up, and headed in a different direction.

Curious to find out why exactly Giovanni had decided to turn tail, the two Digimon followed suit. Devidramon asked, "What's going on that's so important?"

Giovanni's mouth curled into a smirk. "Apparently, our satellite picked up the signals of a few people entering the desert, who the surveillance department thinks I need to see."

Murmuxmon frowned lightly, but continued to follow. "It could be absolutely anyone. How do you know this will be interesting at all?"

Giovanni's reply to the question was a rather simple one. "My minions know better than to disturb me unless they know it is important to our work."

One trip to the main Computer Room later, and Giovanni's statement would be proven accurate, as he got to see the picture which their satellite had captured; a picture which displayed the Digidestined in Hoenn upon it. For the boss of Team Rocket, most of the people in that picture didn't matter one iota to him. But, one in particular got the man to put on his patented evil smirk.

The smirk even made Murmuxmon very curious as to what could be printed on that sheet of paper. He walked and looked over Giovanni's shoulder to see what was on there. And what he saw also made him smirk evilly, though for a completely different reason to Giovanni.

Devidramon, seeing both of the other members of their evil alliance smirking as if they were hatching evil plans in their heads already, said in his loudest voice, "Would someone tell me what's so interesting on that thing?!"

Giovanni was the first to respond to Devidramon's "question". "What's so interesting about this picture is who is on it." He stepped aside to let the curious Digimon finally get a look at it.

When he did, though, he was slightly bemused. "What's so special about this? It's a bunch of children."

Murmuxmon corrected his minion, "A bunch of Digidestined children, Devidramon."

Devidramon now looked even more confused than he did before. "So? What exactly is the point of getting all excited over a bunch of Digidestined?"

Giovanni smirked one of his most evil smirks. "While I cannot speak for Murmuxmon, my interest involves him." He pointed to the brown-haired boy with the red goggles. "That is Ryo Akiyama, also known as the nephew to the accursed Lorelei of the Elite Four, or Prima as she's taken to calling herself these days." Giovanni stated in a most sour tone.

Murmuxmon was most fascinated by the sudden change in Giovanni's voice and thought out loud. "This Prima woman must have done something bad to you in the past… say… for example, being directly responsible for locking you in prison to begin with?"

Giovanni snarled, confirming exactly what Murmuxmon thought. The Mega-level Digimon snickered in an evil tone. "Revenge is a powerful motivator, Giovanni. Use that drive to push forward toward our objective."

Next, it was Giovanni's turn to be curious. "I also noticed that you were looking at someone in particular in that picture. Who was it?"

Murmuxmon pointed out another brown-haired boy, this time with blue goggles over his eyes, "Him," was all that he said initially.

The hyped-up Devidramon jumped up and down and said, "Come on! You've got to give us more than that to go on!"

Murmuxmon continued his evil smirk and said, "Patience, Devidramon." It wasn't something the Champion had much of at this point, so Murmuxmon continued after a meaningful pause. "You see, that boy there is someone I've watched for a long time by the name of Josh."

Devidramon then pointed out, "Didn't you capture him once before?" This single statement suddenly piqued Giovanni's interest.

Murmuxmon replied with a simple nod. "I had him, and his worthless father in my grasp before, and I planned to use them as nourishment. You see… their relationship had been so antagonistic for so long that it began to generate a special kind of darkness."

The look on Giovanni's face went from curious to one deep in thought about how one could use this to their advantage. Murmuxmon continued his story, "You see, his family was constantly being uprooted by their father's constant attempts to hurt them. It was impossible to set down roots anywhere before he found them again. This constant push and pull relationship was having a serious strain on the psyche of all of them."

Devidramon snickered, "Sounds like that would have been real fun to watch."

Murmuxmon nodded back to his subordinate. "You couldn't be more right, Devidramon. I was able to watch as one in particular began to grow darker and angrier by the day, unable to make friends anywhere to offset that darkness. Combine that with a desire to protect his family from any threat which came through their door and it is obvious why he was turning to the dark side for help, so to speak."

Giovanni's expression hadn't changed. He simply continued to think about where Murmuxmon was driving with this story, not saying a word, but nodding along the way to show that he was listening.

Murmuxmon continued, maintaining his tone throughout, "And when the time was absolutely right, with every other Digidestined fool concentrated on Daemon, I was able to sneak in and capture both the son and the father, with the intent to use them to fuel myself for the rest of their lives. Constantly fighting with one another until their energy ran out. Heck, they hated each other so much that their spirits continued fighting even after their bodies had run out of energy."

It was this last statement that broke Giovanni out of his funk. "That is incredible. I've never heard of anything like it before, and I've dealt with Mewtwo."

Devidramon, however, wasn't quite as impressed, as he knew where this was going. "But… you made a miscalculation somewhere in your perfect plan, didn't you?"

Murmuxmon nodded slowly and continued, "I made several. The first was that when I took my first batch of darkness for nourishment, I accidentally took too much from the boy, Josh. At the time, though, I was thinking too small. I thought I could simply do away with him and his pesky Digimon and be all right with only having the father… I was a fool to think that."

After receiving some intrigued looks from his colleagues, Murmuxmon continued. "His father has turned out to be completely worthless to me without the boy. But, I have a feeling that will not be the case with him. His darkness is so pure that it is ridiculous. Had I known then what I know now, his father wouldn't have survived."

With another pause to think things out, Murmuxmon added, "But that was nothing compared to what happened just before I could eliminate him. Those pesky kids came for him and his Digimon. And I was shocked to find the rest of his family right there alongside them, with Socramon of all Digimon!"

Murmuxmon sighed a few moments later and added, "That was my biggest mistake. Underestimating how strong the bond between the Digidestined can be. It is a mistake I do not intend to make again, when I capture him again."

Giovanni then asked, in a very curious tone, "That is all well and good, but how will capturing this one child help our cause?"

Murmuxmon looked at Giovanni, the glint in his eyes already showing a hatching plan. "Think about it. If one battle could feed me, imagine what we could do if we were to harness that boundless darkness to power this base. Or, even better, power this base, AND assure that Devidramon and I can survive in this hostile environment! Imagine the power we would possess then!"

Devidramon smirked and said, "Do you think he could generate enough darkness to allow me to digivolve… permanently?"

Murmuxmon thought about this for a moment, and then nodded lightly. "It should be easily done… at least, once he's got an extra present from me." He presented a Dark Spore, like those that had been used on the former Digimon Emperor.

Devidramon blinked a couple of times, confused. "Where did you get that? I thought they all went up in smoke when Demon was defeated."

"You honestly don't think he was the only Digimon to think that up, do you?" Murmuxmon asked. "The ability to influence humans, given their affinity for the Digimon, is incredibly useful. Demon wasn't the only one to figure that out." He looked at the ceiling and added, "To be perfectly honest, if I had known about the extent of his darkness sooner, I wouldn't be holding this right now."

Giovanni smirked, beginning to get some ideas. "That's all well and good, but what do you plan on doing with him to take advantage of this property?"

Murmuxmon looked at Giovanni directly. "What I plan to do, with the assistance of your loyal troops, is create a brand-new home for that boy. A home he will never move an inch from again."

It was at this moment that one of Giovanni's subordinates inside the computer room decided to speak up. "Excuse me, sir…"

Giovanni glared at the "disrespectful" grunt. "Don't interrupt us when we're plotting!" The grunt cringed for a moment, afraid of a severe beating.

Murmuxmon was a lot calmer than his human counterpart. "Relax a moment, Giovanni. Perhaps this one can tell us something useful."

The grunt was quick to take advantage of Murmuxmon's 'generosity'. "Pardon me for saying so, but the Digi-Egg of Darkness didn't come from this Josh person, according to the report. It came from someone else named Alan." The monitor responded by showing a close-up of Alan's face.

"The boy with the strange powers…" Murmuxmon thought on this for a few seconds, and then shook his head. "It really doesn't matter who the Digi-Egg came from. It doesn't change my plans."

Devidramon shook his head a couple of times, and replied in a semi-whiny voice, "Why not, Lord Murmuxmon? It makes sense to me to capture both of them and use their combined strength! The more, the merrier, like they always say!"

Murmuxmon glared at the over-eager Digimon. "Fool… don't you realize why that wouldn't be a good idea?" Devidramon stammered for a moment, trying to figure out what the stronger Digimon was driving at.

Giovanni, on the other hand, figured it out very quickly. "You know that the more components you add to a plan, the more things that could potentially go wrong."

Murmuxmon nodded lightly, and smiled a genuine smile, "Finally, someone who understands me! That is the exact reason why we will not capture both of them. We will only take one, because we only need one. And if we take more, it only invites trouble. The reward is not worth the risk"

Both of the other villains nodded to each other. Murmuxmon decided to interject one more time. "Besides, I don't know anything about Wilkinson's past. He might not be quite the perfect candidate like we have already."

On this last point, all 3 could agree, as the mysterious trainer had only been in Hoenn for a couple of weeks, leaving a lot of holes in their overall intelligence on the British man.

Another thing they were lacking intelligence on? The Digi-Egg of Darkness; luckily, Jessie, James and Weavile chose that moment to enter the room where their boss was plotting the demise of Ryo already.

Jessie smirked and asked, "Planning some poor sucker's doom already, huh?"

Giovanni laughed a hearty laugh as he turned around. "Of course I am!" He then patted each member of Jessie's squad on their back, showing some rare approval. "Well done, all three of you!"

Weavile, despite being in a new form, still relished the Boss's adulation. "Tank you, sir."

Murmuxmon could see rather clearly the dark aura surrounding both Jessie and Weavile, and began to smirk. He was quite confident that the Digi-Egg had found a good home… for now. "Hang onto that Egg. It might just come in handy soon."

James was a bit surprised by the appearance of 2 of those Digimon creatures he'd heard about back in Kanto, but even more surprised by the fact that the mummy had allowed Jessie to hang onto the Egg, despite the fact that he could read a deep, dark aura.

Jessie then asked, smirk still present, "What are our orders now?"

Giovanni snickered and said, "At least your enthusiasm hasn't dissipated. It was your only redeeming quality awhile back. The assignment now is to go after a couple… of humans." He then showed the three minions the picture he, Murmuxmon and Devidramon had been glancing over.

Visibly, Jessie, Weavile and Meowth paled a bit when they saw it was the very same Digidestined that they had captured and left behind, and then paled even further when they saw the two circled figures; Ryo and Josh, whom they had rendered helpless, and back-to-back.

"I wish you'd said." Jessie scowled. We could have brought them back with us."

"No we couldn't." James interjected. "They'd have escaped with the Pokemon."

Murmuxmon, meanwhile, had been thinking about something, interrupted the conversation. "Hold on a minute, Giovanni."

The crime syndicate's boss looked back at the mummy and raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"Our targets have surrounded themselves with a number of potentially worthy opponents. It would be a good thing to test their capabilities before we get serious." Murmuxmon replied in a thoughtful tone.

Devidramon then asked a question he would later wish he hadn't, "How exactly are we going to do that, Lord Murmuxmon?"

Murmuxmon smirked and turned back to the weaker Digimon. "That will be your job. Go out and test their battle capabilities."

This command was met with a resounding, "WHAT?!?!" from Devidramon. But, after a minute of argument, he would begrudgingly go.

Giovanni then asked, "Why send him out?" in a skeptical tone.

Murmuxmon then replied in a very matter-of-fact manner, "I said it was a test. Champion-level Digimon are beatable." After a moment to consider, he then added, "Besides, I don't want him going overboard and destroying them before we obtain our objectives."

Giovanni laughed. "He has been over-anxious since we arrived. Hopefully, in this way, he'll burn off some steam."

Murmuxmon then turned to the newly darkened Team Rocket. "As for you three, I have a different assignment in mind…"

Jessie and Weavile were excited as could be, but James was beginning to have some doubts in his mind.

-Edge of Sandstorm Desert, about a mile from Duneedge Town-

The winds were picking up, and the reputation of the desert was now obvious to all of the children now standing on the edge of it. Ryo groaned loudly, "The man back in town was right. This place has nasty sandstorms."

Josh was quick to point out, "The sooner we get through here, the sooner you can get those goggles off your head, Ryo."

With that point in mind, Ryo sighed and pulled on his eyewear. The rest of the team followed, with varying degrees of happiness. The goggles were helpful in allowing the Destined to see where they were going in this harsh environment. But, even with their assistance, visibility was extremely limited.

The children also learned fairly quickly that the winds made it hard to communicate, so it was much better to stay together rather than risk being separated.

Alan shook his head and remarked, "I've been in a lot of harsh environments before, but this takes the cake."

Another voice came out of the storm and said, "You think it's bad now? Wait about 5 minutes! It's gonna be killer!"

The five trainers tensed up and turned in the direction of the voice. Josh yelled out, "Who are you, and where are you?"

A hearty laugh took place in the sandstorm, and the voice responded, "You'll find out soon enough. But… you're about to have your world rocked! Crimson Claw!"

A gigantic glowing claw rended the ground in front of the Digidestined, sending them backwards. Ryo glared into the shifting sands as the claw retracted. "There's only one creature that could have that attack."

At that moment, as if on cue, a large black dragon came out and made himself known. Every one of the Destined were shocked to see a Digimon standing before them. Josh yelled out, "That's impossible! Digimon can't live here!"

Another laugh came from the dragon as he turned to Josh. "You'd be surprised. Oh, my master sends his regards. You'll be seeing him soon enough, I'm sure."

This comment earned a glare from Josh, and earned a phrase of bravado from Kyle, "You won't be taking anyone anywhere!"

The Digimon roared out, "Then let's see you stop me!"

Ryo yelled out, "Guys! Sandstorm conditions favor Rock, Ground and Steel-types! Be careful who you send out against Devidramon!" Ryo followed his own advice and sent out Swinub. Josh would have followed the advice too, but sensing danger to his partner, Blade jumped out of his Poké Ball and in front of Josh, arm blades at the ready.

:Typical.: Kendrix chuckled from within her Poké Ball.

Alan wouldn't use Kendrix's services, well aware of what the sand would do to her feathers, but would utilize Tommy, who leaped out when summoned. Kyle would bring out Koffing, planning to worsen the conditions even more with Smokescreen. And Casey would bring forth Meganium, knowing that these conditions would be especially adverse to Electrike.

Devidramon didn't really care that it was 5-on-1. In his mind, he could be just as dominant now as he was when he was MetalDevidramon. That mindset would quickly be shattered though, as Swinub snuck behind him and used Icy Wind, turning numerous grains of the swirling sand into shards of ice which created numerous tiny cuts in the dragon.

The response was immediate and violent as Devidramon spun around and yelled, "Dark Gale!" before launching out a dark blast of wind in the general direction of Swinub. But, it completely missed the mark, one major benefit of being so tiny and brown like the sands.

Adding injury to injury, Blade had managed to sneak up equally well and slashed Devidramon in the backside, creating a violent roar which was so strong that it actually scattered the blowing sands for a moment.

Before he could take advantage, though, he was tied up by Meganium's Vine Whip attack and flailing madly. "Let me go!" Casey smirked. "Take that, you stupid Digimon!"

Tommy sweatdropped and shook his head. "Nice comeback, Casey…" he said in a very sarcastic tone. Casey responded with a light glare before Tommy took advantage of the favorable situation and attacked with Metal Claw, deepening the wounds that Blade had created moments before.

Devidramon was still cocky, even as the sand dug further into the wounds, making the Digimon wince. Koffing regularly patrolled the field, creating smoke in his wake. Kyle did feel a bit less useful than the others, but he had to do what he could.

Devidramon broke free from Meganium's Vine Whip right about then and spun around, firing out Dark Gale the entire time, hoping to hit something. He did hit something. Blade intercepted the attack before it hit each member of the Digidestined.

Josh ran over to his beloved partner, "Blade!" He brandished a Super Potion he'd found on the ground somewhere and tended to his partner. Devidramon was about to charge in and attack, but then, out of nowhere, a familiar howl echoed through the desert and Devidramon was hit by an intercepting Fire Blast attack.

Devidramon fell short of his target, and leaping in front of Josh and Blade was an Arcanine who continued to growl at the Digimon.

The dark dragon breathed heavily on one knee as he struggled to his feet. He yelled out, "Don't get in my way!" He was about to launch out with another Crimson Claw attack, but he would never get the chance.

In Devidramon's ear came a voice, 'Return to base… NOW!'

Devidramon would immediately object to this command. "But, my Lord, I'm-"

The voice would insist, 'NOW!!!'

Devidramon would have no choice but to obey with that tone of voice. He shook his head and turned to every member of the Digidestined. "You got lucky… this time. But, I'll be back!" He flew off deeper into the desert.

Ryo wanted to give chase badly, but, like the others, he had some injuries to bandage up. Sharp sand and vigorous activity would do that to you. Luckily, the winds calmed just a little bit, and the sandstorm became a bit less vicious.

The Arcanine remained out, even after all the other Pokémon had been returned to their Poké Balls. "Aren't you going to call Leo back?" Casey asked Alan.

Alan looked back at the young lady and said, "Casey, that's not Leo. I swapped him for Birch before we left Mauville, remember?"

An immediate double-take came from the other Digidestined as they remembered this. "Well, if that isn't your Arcanine," Kyle asked, pointing to the Fire Dog in question, "then whose is it?"

Almost as if on cue, a very familiar voice rang out from the south. "Yo, Kyle-boy!" was all it said as a silhouette appeared just inside their range of vision, conveniently clouded by the sands.

Arcanine jumped and ran next to his master, quite happy to stand there.

The reaction was almost immediate, as several people thought they recognized the voice. Ryo was happy, Alan was intrigued as to why he would be here, and Kyle was palming his face. "Of all the people in the world, why did it have to be him?"

Narrator: Oh dear. It appears a new trainer has appeared on the horizon. Who is this mysterious man, and why does Kyle dread this moment so badly? The answers lay on the next episode of Digicross Advanced!

Next Time: Kyle attempts to make the most of a bad situation by capturing one of the Desert-native Pokémon. But, the presence of the new trainer makes the young man perform some critical mistakes. Will Kyle ever win the respect of this newcomer? Find out on the next episode of Digicross Advanced!


	10. RoD 10: A Dusty Oak

Narrator: Today, we find our heroes near the south end of Sandstorm Desert. The reason they had to use this hazardous route was because the much easier Fiery Path was blocked up by Team Magma. But, it turned out to be more dangerous than even they had guessed, as Devidramon came to fight them at the end of our last episode. They would have won eventually, with some serious injuries, but a mysterious Arcanine came out of nowhere and forced Murmuxmon to beat a strategic retreat of his minion. Who owns this Pokémon, and why does Kyle dread the upcoming meeting? Find out today on Digicross Advanced!

Digicross Advanced Episode 40: "A Dusty Oak"

Episode Written by Josh Johannesen

(Editor's Note: Gee… I bet this doesn't give you a big hint as to who this is, does it? *wink*)

The Digidestined looked through the blowing sands at the man who stood next to the Arcanine which had attacked Devidramon just a minute before. As he walked closer, and more features began to make themselves clear, Kyle's attitude went from thrilled about the victory, to sore about the victor.

Ryo stood up and walked over to the young man before smiling. "It's been a while, hasn't it, Gary?"

The brown-haired young man with the black goggles smiled. "It certainly has, Ryo."

After a quick turn back to his friends, Ryo introduced the man who had interrupted their fight. "This is Gary Oak." Gary would respond with a simple smile which exuded an air of confidence.

Josh had to ask the question on his mind at that moment, "We've met before, haven't we?"

"Yes, we've all met before, back at SoCal." Kyle said in a very sour tone.

Gary looked at Josh, ignoring Kyle for the moment. "So, you remember our meeting from before?"

Josh then shook his head, "Vaguely. But… I thought you looked kinda familiar. Sorry about that."

Under normal circumstances, Gary might have felt a little bit deflated, but, in his mind, since he was quite a bit different than he was before, it was fine that he wasn't easily recognizable.

Ryo stepped in again and proceeded to begin to introduce everyone in the group, one by one. "This is Josh," pointing to each member of their team as he did so, "And Alan… and Casey." Gary held out his hand to each person, and would receive a hearty handshake in return from every one.

That is, until they got to Kyle, who as Gary pointed out he "didn't need an introduction to". Kyle didn't take the hand and simply asked in the same cold tone, "What are you doing here?"

Gary looked slightly offended, "Now, that's no way to treat someone who came out to see you in these conditions!"

Casey looked at Kyle and tilted her head, "Kyle… do you have a history with Gary?"

Kyle sighed loudly. "You could say that, yes." In his mind, visions of Gary's constant one-upmanship, non-stop verbal abuse, and complete lack of anything resembling respect danced over his vision, making Kyle even un-happier that this had happened.

Gary was looking at Kyle and thought he could see some of those said visions, or at the very least, he could see Kyle's reaction to said visions, and decided it was best not to pursue the issue further.

Alan then pointed out, "He does have a point, of course. Very few people would come through this area unless they absolutely had to."

Gary snickered quietly, "Catch on real fast, don't you?" After a bit of a smile from Alan, he continued, "I was sent here by Gramps in order to research the different environments of Hoenn, and this is one of the big ones. What kind of adaptations does one need to survive in the middle of a perpetual sandstorm?"

One coughing Arcanine later would indicate to its trainer that it clearly didn't have the adaptations necessary to go there. Josh would then suggest, "It's clear we aren't getting through here today. So, let's find a safe place to spend the night."

That was a suggestion everyone could live with. Gary then pulled out a map which he did have some trouble holding onto. He pointed out a small cave on the map. "This isn't too far away. Let's head here and rest tonight."

After gathering their things, the Digidestined, including a reluctant Kyle, followed Gary through the desert.

-Hoenn Rocket HQ-

Devidramon had been back at the base for about 15 minutes now, and was still wincing from the pain he had experienced at the hands of the Digidestined… physically and mentally, of course.

Slowly, he was beginning to recover his strength, but he could have withstood any amount of pain it would have taken to defeat the Digidestined right then and there. Every time some member of Team Rocket came by to attempt to administer some first aid to the dragon Digimon, he would roar and make them back off.

Needless to say, the base shuddered with a loud roar quite a bit over the course of the following couple of hours.

Elsewhere, Team Rocket goons were beginning to take down some technical specifications from Murmuxmon the device he was planning to use on his target when he finally captured him. It was a device made completely of metal, and could unhinge to allow its victim to step inside before sealing up and allowing no movement at all.

Murmuxmon smirked and remarked, "This has got to be the most ingenious device I've ever come up with. Once he is in there, not even those foolish Digidestined will be able to break him out."

Of course, the main problem was gathering the resources to build it, and the time it would take to complete it. Giovanni could certainly take care of the former, while the grunts would have to take care of the latter.

After his plans were drawn up, Murmuxmon walked off to find his minion and try to get him to stop moaning and groaning.

-5 minutes later-

Devidramon roared, "Get away from me!" to another set of grunts, and they weren't exactly in a position to argue, so they did.

Moments later, Murmuxmon walked into the room and said with a tired sigh, "Would you please keep it down? You're going to give away our position to those annoying children."

Devidramon glared right into Murmuxmon's eyes and replied, "It's your fault that I'm moaning at all! If you hadn't pulled me out of the battle, I would have won, and I wouldn't have cared about what it would have taken to recover!"

Murmuxmon shook his head and replied, "On the contrary, if I had done nothing, you wouldn't be here at all."

Devidramon raised an eyebrow, very skeptical of the mummy Digimon's claim. Murmuxmon continued, "Didn't you notice that you were up against an additional foe? Don't tell me you were so ignorant that you missed that Arcanine which entered the battle."

A light sweatdrop developed on Devidramon's head as he responded, "So what? One more foe wouldn't have made a difference!"

Murmuxmon continued, "Even one whose power level is among the highest among 'normal' Pokémon? You would have been destroyed if you stayed out there! No matter how strong you think you are, you would have lost to potentially 36 opponents!"

The sweatdrop grew slightly as the Digimon scoffed. "What difference does that make now? I was pulled out. End of story."

Murmuxmon smirked, "Couldn't agree more. So, quit your whining and just recover!"

Devidramon laid down and turned his back to Murmuxmon, as if he were trying to show some defiance to his master. In his head, he knew that his destruction was imminent if he had stuck around… between the constant cutting and the overwhelming odds, along with his reduced power, he would not have survived his encounter.

Still, he would have preferred to die right there than retreat and face the shame of losing, sort of like an ancient samurai; except a lot more evil and a lot less honorable.

The rest of the night would go off without a hitch at the Rocket Base, as they were planning the second phase of the "test of the Digidestined".

-South Sandstorm Cave-

After being led to this cave, they ate some dinner, which was easier said than done. You try eating in a cave with winds blowing outside, and the occasional grain of sand blowing into your food.

Immediately following dinner, the party seemed to split off into pairs, each taking a corner of the cave. Alan and Casey were easy to predict, as were Josh and Ryo. This left Kyle and Gary, and Kyle's response to the scenario was simple. Go to sleep very quickly and generally ignore Gary.

Gary was surprised by Kyle's reception, but knew exactly why it was, too. So, he let it go for now, intending to say something on it the next day. He went to sleep fairly early as well.

In another corner, Alan and Casey had no intention of sleeping. But, after hearing one specific thing stated by Devidramon during their battle a few hours earlier, they couldn't even get up to have some 'real fun'.

So, instead, they took to talking about the day's events. And, more specifically, what they meant to the future of their team.

"It sure seemed like Devidramon was singling out Josh when he made that comment about 'you'll soon see my master', doesn't it?" Alan asked, still trying to wrap his head around that.

Casey nodded lightly and turned to her boyfriend. "You think that he's really after someone like him?"

Alan added, in a slightly annoyed tone, "You know as well as I that outside of Ryo, we don't know nearly as much as we should about our comrade."

Casey snapped back, arguing, "If Josh doesn't want to tell us anything about his past, then it's not exactly my fault, now is it?"

Alan sighed loudly and then remarked, "Whether or not he wants to tell us about his past is his business. Some people have things in their past which they would rather not remember, or tell anyone else. Dark times in their lives, unpleasant circumstances, deaths in the family… the whole lot." The tone which he chose to use to state this sentence indicated to Casey that he, too, had some of those moments in his own life.

Kendrix had thought about showing one of those moments as an example, but at the last moment, thought better of it, knowing that it would displease Alan greatly to have chunks of his past on public display.

Casey nodded lightly and turned toward the cave's entrance, thinking about various things and implications surrounding the sudden appearance of a Digimon here. She then sort of blurted out, "They won't give up until they have Josh in their clutches, will they?"

Then, in a very robust and determined voice, Alan simply stated, "Then we'll just have to keep Josh from being captured, now won't we?" He smiled at her lightly.

Casey couldn't help but giggle. "That would be a pretty good plan, Alan." They would both kiss to the idea, and then decided to turn in.

Near the entrance to the cave, Josh sat with his best bud, Ryo, looking out into the night, and barely able to see anything, due to the continuous wind. Their conversation was similar to that shared by Alan and Casey, except a lot more pointed. For, as Alan pointed out, both knew a lot more about Josh's past.

Ryo, with a very concerned look on his face, asked, "Do you really think it could be him that is behind all of this?"

The response was in almost a resigned tone, which was unusual. "I definitely think it's a possibility. In case you'd forgotten, he wasn't exactly a casualty of the war against Demon. He was off to the side, forgotten."

"Almost, Josh; almost forgotten." Ryo pointed out.

A quick nod came from Josh at that statement. "Since Murmuxmon was so interested in my darkness before, when generated by my… stormy relationship with my father, there's no doubt in my mind that he could be interested in it again."

Ryo thought on the subject for a few moments of silence, and then pointed out, "If that's really the case, you realize that we will have to contact either Professor Oak or your Mom when we reach Fallarbor Town. The last thing any of us wants to do here is be caught unprepared."

Josh sighed, a bit exasperated at the concept of asking for someone's help. "You oughta know by now that I don't like to drag anyone else into what I consider 'my battles'."

A quick smack on the head later and Ryo pointed out, even more exasperated, "In case you've forgotten, when you're a Digidestined, whether you know it or not, you never fight any battle alone. Same is true when you're a Pokémon trainer, now that I think about it."

After thinking about it for a few moments, Josh nodded lightly. "That's very true." After a further pause, Josh added, "You know… that day several months ago was simultaneously the best and worst day of my life."

Ryo looked at his friend and sighed. "I think I understand exactly what you're talking about. The 'worst' part is pretty obvious. And, to those who were directly involved, the 'best' part is also obvious."

Josh smiled lightly and then shook his head. "Not only was it gratifying to see those people who I'd taken it upon myself to protect come to my rescue, but also to see Kari and Davis, two people I hadn't ever known, help me out as well."

Ryo smiled lightly. "Very true, Josh. That's probably why it's so amazing to me that you don't want to accept their help."

Josh immediately corrected his buddy. "It's not exactly that I don't want their help. But, you know as well as I that, for the most part, Digimon can't exist here due to the void in Digital Energy. If our theory is right, then Murmuxmon, who can just as easily feed off of Darkness, is feeding Devidramon. We don't have any such advantages, and the majority of Digidestined who are also Pokémon Trainers are here now."

Ryo sighed again and shook his head. Josh then added before Ryo could say anything, "It won't stop me from calling home once we reach Fallarbor, Ryo. But, I'm also going to stress that I don't want over-reaction to occur. I don't want to suddenly see Hoenn overloaded with Digidestined, and suddenly a bunch of evil forces come through onto Kanto and make things miserable for everyone else."

After another pause, Ryo simply said, "Let's just get some sleep and drop it. We don't know if we're right yet, and, as you say, we don't want to cause undue panic when it isn't necessary."

Both friends agreed on this and went to sleep in their sleeping bags.

-The following morning…-

The Digidestined emerged from their cave and began to get re-acclimated to the local environs. Naturally, it was another miserable day, at least in comparison to places like, say, Slateport Beach.

Gary remarked, covering his eyes in the first few seconds before his eyes re-adjusted, "It just never stops, does it?"

"That would be the reason why they call it Sandstorm Desert, isn't it?" Casey said in a very sarcastic tone.

Gary snickered quietly, knowing that she was exactly right. Alan then asked a question which was coming up for a second time. "Why did you come out here? Surely it couldn't have been just to seek us out."

Gary turned to Alan and smiled. "Well, you're right. You see, I'm doing some work for my Grandpa."

Kyle folded his arms, not entirely convinced about that. Gary continued in a proud voice, "You see, I'm helping him explore the subject of Pokémon in their native environment; specifically, Pokémon who live in extreme environments. Places that we just can't research on back in Kanto."

Casey then made what seemed to be an obvious statement, "Places like this, then."

Gary nodded. "I need to find out about a couple of Pokémon here, before I move onto Mt. Chimney, and then, head all the way to Sinnoh to do some more research around Snowpoint City, and Mt. Coronet."

Josh chuckled lightly and responded, "Sounds like you're going on your own world tour, doesn't it?"

Gary smiled back. "Exactly, Josh. I'll also be making a trip out to Orre, mostly to find out what's different about that place which doesn't allow Pokémon to live there naturally. It's a desert region, much like this desert, except, of course, without the Pokémon."

Kyle then chose that moment to make a very snippy remark. "Sounds like you can't stay here for too long, so why don't you just leave today?"

The conversation would have continued for quite some time, except for the fact that Casey, while walking along the party, slipped and fell into a shallow pit. The overdramatic scream would be quickly followed by a very rapid sequence of events.

Alan ran over to Casey and pulled her out of the pit, which wasn't exactly difficult to do, since it was so shallow. When she came, however, a small Pokémon was attached to her backside, causing her to yelp again. Alan was very quick to swat it off, sending the tiny orange creature flying back onto the sand. It then hissed at Alan and at Casey, almost as if it were chastising Casey for falling into its pit.

Gary quickly pulled out his Pokédex, hoping to find out more about this strange little guy. "Trapinch, the Ant Pit Pokémon," Pokédex spouted. "Trapinch is a patient hunter. It digs an inescapable pit and waits patiently for its prey. This Pokémon can survive an entire week without water."

Ryo blinked and then asked, "Would that be the sort of information that your Grandpa could use?"

Gary nodded, smirking, "Definitely, Ryo. That tells him pretty well how Trapinch learned to survive, despite the constantly blowing winds."

Already, Kyle was moving closer to the scene ahead of them, thinking to himself that he was going to attempt to capture Trapinch, his mind thinking of several reasons why to take that sort of risk.

For one, he wanted a Trapinch, having heard some rumors about how strong it could be with some proper raising. For another, it was some sort of strange pride-based issue after it clamped down on Casey's bottom.

But, mostly, it was a way to show up Gary and show him something the Professor Wannabe hadn't seen from him before. So, as a result, in a show of completely unnecessary bravado, Kyle yelled out, "Go, Toaster!" Kyle's Combusken leapt out with a familiar cry.

Trapinch would immediately launch an interesting maneuver which, as it turned out, was its special ability. Toaster would feel its feet become heavier, as it sank slightly in the sand. Kyle would feel a similar grip take hold over his feet as well. "Ack!" would be all that Kyle would say as he felt himself sink just that ever so slightly.

And this noise was all it took before everyone turned their attention to the battle, much to Kyle's chagrin, because he thought he could actually feel the attention of everyone fall exclusively on him.

Making matters worse was the fact that the arena that Trapinch and Toaster were preparing to face off in was sinking into the sand, to make it even harder for Kyle to escape.

Kyle thought to himself, ~Now, it's time for me to show everyone, especially Gary, that I am a great Trainer!~

He then called out to his partner, "Use Double Kick now!" Toaster leapt from the sand and got in two very easy hits on her opponent.

Unfortunately, the second kick sent Trapinch into one of the sand walls on the sides of the arena. Gary groaned pretty loudly and facepalmed. "Now Kyle's gone and done it."

Ryo could see it pretty easily as well, and pointed out, "Now Trapinch has all the advantages, moving through this terrain."

For Kyle, though, his epiphany came when Trapinch rose out right under Combusken and used Sand Tomb, causing her to squawk loudly as her opponent span around the bird Pokémon, causing a very uncomfortable block of sand to form around her legs, trapping her in the battle as more sand blew around her.

Toaster's response was to scratch the annoying little pest, which was met with a disappearing act just as soon as it hit. Kyle frowned and looked around in a frenzied manner. "Where the heck did it get to now?"

After about five seconds, the response came, fast and furious. Alan called out, "There! Behind Toaster!" Kyle looked to his partner and tried to call out a command to turn around, but the blocks around her legs made movement extremely difficult.

As a result, Trapinch's Faint Attack was met without resistance… as was the next four or five Faint Attacks. This attack was not very effective, but it didn't frankly matter one little bit. When your opponent can hardly move a muscle, even half-strength attacks would result in damage for nothing.

Kyle then commanded, despite the fact that Toaster was tired, "Spin as fast as you can, and use Ember!"

Josh couldn't help but cover his own face. "This isn't going to end well…"

And predictably, it didn't end well at all. Every time the stream of flames got close to Trapinch, it buried itself in the sand, coming up moments later, as if to mock the bird and her trainer.

Strangely, though, this tactic of Kyle's had nothing to do with damaging Trapinch, as Josh would point out as he watched Toaster carefully. "Hey, she's beginning to spin faster! Kyle must have thought that if spinning could cake it on, spinning could also knock it off!"

Everyone turned their attention to Toaster, and, sure enough, her legs were becoming more and more free and clear of debris. Kyle began to smirk as he thought to himself, ~There. Now, everyone can see rather clearly what I can come up with on a moment's notice!~

Sadly, though, this maneuver had drained Combusken of even more of her precious stamina, and she was barely able to stand up after that. The buffeting sands of the desert would assure that her time on her feet wouldn't last long, as she fainted.

Shocked more than anything, Kyle broke his own feet free of the sands and ran over to his partner. "Toaster!" was all he could manage as he ran to her side.

Ryo's analysis of the battle was very simple and to-the-point, having seen trainers act like Kyle had many times in the past. "He tried too hard; tried to be too perfect. And when you don't flow naturally within a battle itself, it is a far too easy way to assure yourself defeat."

Kyle could barely hear the words that Ryo were saying, but he didn't have to hear them. He knew he had tried too hard to be impressive, when that wasn't really the point of capturing Pokémon to begin with. Sure, it was one way to befriend a new pal, but it was far from reliable, and more often than not, one would fall on their face like Kyle had.

-Meanwhile…-

At Rocket HQ, Jessie, Sneasel and James were receiving their latest orders from their Boss. "Your task is ridiculously simple this time, though I would be willing to bet that you'll be able to get some enjoyment out of it."

Jessie wore what had become her standard sadistic smirk. "What are you planning this time?"

Giovanni's response was simple, "We're going to enact the second phase of Murmuxmon's 'test' of those people who surround his target. Your task is to go out tonight and capture Josh. I don't care how you do it, but I would recommend doing it so that it will be difficult, but not impossible to track you."

Sneasel thought this over and then asked, curious as ever, "Am I allowed to do things to him while he's in our custody?"

A further smirk from Giovanni provided the simple answer… yes. He could have cared less about what they did to the young boy. "Just don't kill him, as he's rather precious to the plans of Murmuxmon."

James remained strangely quiet, and didn't say anything for or against the plan. He just followed Jessie and Sneasel as they made their way out. Giovanni then added at the last moment, "Leave behind his Poké Ball containing his unusual Pokémon, Grovyle. Murmuxmon wants them to have a fighting chance."

Jessie then asked, "Can we take whatever implements we wish to keep him there and… add a taste of what to expect when he's finally here?"

Another voice responded from the shadows, "By all means. Take whatever tickles your fancy." Murmuxmon stepped out, looking pleased by the behavior of these people that Giovanni had forgotten about for so long.

Jessie and Sneasel gave Murmuxmon a grateful bow before they began to leave again.

After a moment more, Murmuxmon said, "Hang on one second." He walked off as the three Rockets looked toward the corridor he just left through. Moments later, he came back, holding what looked like a communications device. "When you've captured and restrained him, let me know. I wish to have an opportunity to speak with him." He tossed it to Jessie, who caught it with a flourish.

A nod from the three team members acknowledged the command, and now they left.

Murmuxmon looked slightly disturbed for a moment and asked Giovanni, "Are you sure we can trust James?"

Giovanni laughed for a few moments before replying to that question. "We have nothing to fear from that bumbling idiot. Not only is he not smart enough or motivated enough to do anything on his own, he's far too loyal to his friends, Jessie and Sneasel. He will not betray us."

As the three friends walked out the door into the harsh storm, Murmuxmon sighed loudly. "I hope you're right, Giovanni. I wouldn't want it to be too easy on the Digidestined."

-Back on the battlefield-

Kyle was still trying to help Toaster recover, while Trapinch was preparing to use Sand Tomb again, this time on Kyle directly. It was then that a voice rang out and called to Kyle directly. "Quit thinking about your ego already!"

Strange as it might have seemed to him, the voice clearly belonged to Gary. Kyle looked in the general direction of the voice, basically acknowledging being spoken to.

Gary's response was quick, and to the point. "You've got to quit trying to impress everyone! That's not who you are! Go back to being who you are as a trainer! That's impressive enough!"

To Kyle, it was even stranger to hear Gary barking out, of all things, encouragement. But, hearing those words ring in his ears was enough to get Kyle to finally let go of the notion that impressive wins were the only ones that counted.

And so, just before Trapinch was set to attack, Kyle stood up and jumped out of the way of the pillar of sand which appeared a second later. He then recalled Toaster into her Poké Ball and turned back to Trapinch. "You're going to lose this time." Kyle stated in a very determined voice.

Alan smiled from the sidelines and simply thought to himself, ~Now, that's the Kyle I've come to know and like so much.~

Similar thoughts ran through the rest of the Hoenn-Destined, as Kyle brought out his second Pokémon, hoping for better results this time. "Go, Taillow!" Taillow flew out of its Poké Ball, and immediately, there was a real difference. Unlike Combusken, who was ground-bound, Taillow could fly, and thus, it became a lot more difficult for Trapinch to launch a successful attack, as it couldn't use the environment to its advantage anymore.

Even better than that, upon seeing Trapinch bury into the sand, and then attempt to launch itself at Taillow, only to miss going low and fall back into the pit, Kyle's confidence began to return, much to the pleasure of the entire team.

Trapinch looked up at Taillow as Kyle commanded, "Strike back with Wing Attack!" Taillow zoomed into the pit and quickly struck against Trapinch, before flying back upward. Taillow did struggle to stay stable with all the winds, but it wasn't as bad as what Trapinch was going through.

The next couple of minutes would be rather important to Kyle's psyche, and now he was totally focused on the task. So much so that when Trapinch didn't go down quickly, he would even be forced to use a Super Potion to keep Taillow around.

Alan shook his head and thought to Kendrix, :At this rate, I'll have to let Birch do some more item gathering.:

Kendrix responded with a very serious, :Better that than to have everyone flounder, isn't it?: Alan couldn't argue with that point, and so let it go.

Trapinch, meanwhile, was becoming more and more tired with each passing attack. Kyle knew it as he watched the antlion's body language, and then went in for the knockout blow, "Taillow, one more time with Wing Attack!"

Taillow shot down like a dart, as Trapinch attempted to bury itself in the sand. Fortunately, Taillow's speed outdid Trapinch's speed in the sand, and as such, it got smacked one more time by the wings and knocked out when it had gotten about halfway buried.

The irony of what was about to happen wasn't lost on Casey or Alan as Casey screamed out, "Get it in the butt!"

Everyone sweatdropped before Kyle tossed his Poké Ball. And, as predicted, it hit the largest area which was exposed of Trapinch's body: its bottom, before the red light took over and the antlion was pulled into the capsule.

The Ball began to shake for quite a few seconds, and Kyle began to look a slight bit nervous that it would escape and render his entire effort for naught. Taillow came down and flew onto Kyle's shoulder and waited in anticipation as well.

After about 20 seconds, the Poké Ball finished shaking and clicked shut. Kyle's face was painted with a huge grin as he walked over and grabbed the device from the sands. He was able to control himself for a few moments before he went into his own interpretation of a capture pose, looking a fair bit like Ash would. "I caught a Trapinch!"

From Kyle's shoulder, Taillow chirped proudly as well.

Josh yelled down, "Great job!" Kyle gave Josh a thumbs-up in response. The rest of the Digidestined were similarly pleased with the second half of Kyle's performance.

Suddenly, the sands which had sloped downward to create the Arena Trap came back upward, allowing Kyle to escape, after retreating Taillow.

Casey patted Kyle on the back and said, "Nice recovery! And you didn't even need the Electabuzz fight song!"

Josh then joked, "I'm not sure that would help anyone do better… aside from an Electabuzz."

Casey gave Josh a light smack on the back of the head and pointed out, "You forgot about Elekid." Alan shook his head and laughed.

It would be Gary who would break up this appreciation-fest. "I think we should keep moving toward the northern end of the desert. We have no idea if and when Devidramon will strike again."

Ryo nodded and turned to the others. "Gary is right. We should get moving." After a quick re-gathering of Kyle's items which he had dropped on the way down, they continued further into the desert.

Remarkably, after about 3 hours of wandering, they came upon something very unusual… a tower in the middle of the desert. Everyone got the same idea almost immediately: to use this tower as their shelter for the night and continue north in the morning.

After entering the tower, they found a cozy little alcove to use as their campgrounds for the night. Unsurprisingly, it would be Ryo who would ask the question on everyone's mind first. "What is a giant tower like this doing out here in the middle of nowhere?"

Gary theorized, "It must be out here for some reason… maybe it's guarding something, or maybe it was created by a Pokémon."

Josh added, "I think it's more impressive that a place like this is just standing out here, in all of this blowing sand, and is able to stay standing."

Casey rolled her eyes lightly and then asked, "Who cares? It's here… we can sleep in it… we probably shouldn't think too much about it."

A collective yawn from the party would confirm that the idea was correct, no matter how wrong it sounded to simply ignore the mystique of a place like this. So, they got on with dinner and setting up camp.

After a basic "campfire" dinner, which was actually cooked by Ryo's Charmeleon and Tommy, Kyle was seen tending to Toaster, still feeling bad about the mistakes he made during the day. Everyone else was settling into bed for the night. Well, almost everyone.

Gary walked out of the alcove and over to Kyle, still tending to his injured partner. Kyle asked, "Are you going to be all right?" Combusken nodded lightly, not wanting to exert too much energy.

Gary smiled and sat down next to his 'rival'. He took a good 15 seconds before he asked, "Kyle, do you know why I push and prod like I do?"

The question seemed to come right out of left field, and Kyle looked at Gary for a moment before turning back to Toaster. "Because you think you're better than everyone else?" was Kyle's answer to Gary's initial question.

Gary shook his head. "That's not even close to the right answer." He said in a bit of a condescending tone. "You see, I am a pretty good judge of how much potential someone will have as a trainer. I just push people because I think they're going to be great, just as Ash pushed me to be better, I did the same with him."

Kyle raised his eyebrow and looked at Gary. "Are you being serious? You think I have potential to be truly great?"

Gary smiled lightly. "I personally think all of you have the potential to do something great in the future."

Kyle then asked, very skeptical, "Why single me out, then?"

Gary began to lightly snicker and then admitted, "I knew you were good friends with Casey. And given her tendency to say whatever she thought without thinking, you had to have a very thick skin. I thought you could take it in stride."

Kyle went into deep thought for a few minutes, and silence ruled over the first floor of the Tower. Eventually, though, he would smile and say, "Maybe we can… you know… start over again?"

Gary couldn't help but smile as he replied, "I think that would be a great idea, Kyle." Both of them shook hands and were ready to put the past behind them when they started up again the following morning.

Both would stay up a little while longer and take care of Toaster. Once she was feeling better, she would return to her Ball, and both would go to sleep in their sleeping bags.

-Later that night…-

Three skulking shadows would approach the camp, being as quiet as they could be. They knew their mission, and they knew how to accomplish it. Each one crept closer to the camp of the Digidestined, assuring they did not make a sound on their approach.

When they got there, they quickly identified Josh in his sleeping bag, and proceeded to do what was now a familiar technique. Assure that he was going to stay out by using some chloroform. Then, it was a simple matter of extracting Josh from his bag, leaving behind one Poké Ball unclipped from Josh's belt, and then take the boy away.

Surprisingly, though, they didn't walk out of the Tower, but up the stairs and deeper into this mysterious place…

Narrator: Oh dear, it looks like Murmuxmon's plan is going smoothly so far. Will the Digidestined be able to live up to his expectations, or will they lose Ryo's friend for good? Find out next time!

On the next episode of Digicross Advanced, Josh meets the face of the enemy, and finds out whether his theory is correct or not. The other Digidestined must find him quickly, or risk losing him to Murmuxmon for good! And what are those fossils doing in a place like this anyway? Find out the answers to at least some of these questions next time!


	11. RoD 11: Tower of the Ancients

Narrator: Last time on Digicross Advanced, our team of Digidestined met up with an old friend from way back in SoCal, Gary Oak. At first, he appeared to be as cocky as before, but in Kyle's deepest funk ever while trying to catch Trapinch, Gary was the first to encourage Kyle onto victory against the antlion, gaining his fourth Pokémon partner. But, just as things were looking up, three shadows snuck into camp and kidnapped Josh, leaving behind one Poké Ball. What purpose does it serve, and why did they take him in the first place? Find out today on Digicross Advanced!

Digicross Advanced Episode 41: "Tower of the Ancients"

Episode Written by Josh Johannesen

Only a matter of minutes after the shadows left carrying their cargo, the Poké Ball they left behind began to shake, and eventually opened on its own, releasing the Pokémon that the villains had meant to leave behind. Blade, Josh's Delta Grovyle, popped out and looked around, having once again sensed danger to his partner.

One problem, though. No indication as to where his partner had gone. The only thing he could derive immediately was that Josh wasn't there anymore. Blade frowned, then immediately began to search the floor for clues, completely disregarding the fact that the rest of Josh's friends were there, ready to help except for the fact that they were sleeping.

He searched all over the floor, looking for any sign that Josh had been taken upstairs, or had been taken outside. After only about 10 minutes, his eyes began to see the footprints of 2 humans and a Pokémon heading upstairs, and Blade took off after them.

It was this last noise that woke up Ryo from his sleep and caused him to yawn. He would then notice that Josh wasn't there as well, and frowned lightly. ~This isn't like him… not in the least. Something must have happened.~ And then, much against his better judgment, he got up and began to look upstairs, having thought he heard something go in that direction.

-Meanwhile…-

A splash of cold water onto his brow began to wake Josh from his induced slumber, making him moan and say, "Mom, just five more minutes…"

A voice cut through the grogginess and yelled, "Sure, just make me wait all morning for you to wake up!"

It took a minute for Josh to recognize the voice, but when he did, his eyes snapped open so fast it was unbelievable. "What am I doing here with you?" It was about now that Josh noticed the ropes binding his arms at his sides, and his crossed wrists behind his back. He would also notice that he was currently locked up inside an uncomfortably cramped cage.

The voice, now recognized as belonging to Jessie, responded, "That answer is simple. You've become the subject of another test, and we shall see how the others do."

Josh frowned, but still, annoyingly, couldn't find a way to get angry with them for putting him in this situation. It didn't immediately dawn on him what the ramifications of this was, but Sneasel was quick to point out that Josh wouldn't exactly have a lot of time to think about said ramifications. "We'll be sure ta keep you busy, because despite the fact that we can't do away wit' ya now, we're gonna make sure to get our money's worth."

Josh then gulped, not quite sure what to think of this circumstance, and not even sure where he was, until he got a good look at the walls. He then remarked, "So, you're now too lazy to bother taking me from the building I was in?"

Sneasel answered with a snarky, "No. We just followed orders… part of the test of yer friends."

Jessie added, just off the top of her head, "Not to mention the bond you own with that unusual Pokémon of yours."

Josh asked, in a fairly annoyed tone, "What did you do with Blade?"

Jessie smirked, "In all honesty? Nothing. I did absolutely nothing with him. He's down at the bottom of the tower, probably waking up by now to discover that you're missing."

Jessie had the right idea, but the timing of her prediction was a bit off.

-Floor 2-

Ryo crested the stairs and saw Blade, by himself, attempting to cross the checkered floor. Checkered, that is, by cracked panels which didn't look like they could support much weight. Ryo then called out, "Blade! What are you doing?"

As Blade began to talk in its own language, Ryo called out Charmeleon, for translation purposes. He was, to say the least, annoyed about being woken up at three in the morning, but there wasn't much he could do about it now.

Charmeleon listened, nodded, and after Grovyle finished, he turned to Ryo. "Blade says he believes Josh was kidnapped by someone, and is being held on the top floor of this tower. He wants to rescue him as soon as he can."

Ryo nodded slowly for a few moments, and then turned to Josh's trusted partner. "Blade, I know you want to go right now, but if our theory is right, Josh will be all right. He's far more valuable to them alive, and so he won't be harmed too badly by them."

Blade was very quick to protest to this suggestion by Ryo, but he was quick to fire back. "If we go now, we don't know what kind of odds we will face up there. If we wait a couple of hours, we'll be able to convince everyone to go, and give ourselves a great chance to rescue him."

Blade stood silent for a few seconds, thinking over this concept. Ryo added, "And besides, if they have taken him deeper into this tower, it'll be very difficult for them to get out without us noticing. And, so long as he's here, we can get him back."

This last argument finally got Blade to calm down and agree to go back… for now.

They would begin again in the morning, and get their friend back.

As they went downstairs, they would be confronted by Alan, who had heard everything due to his sensitive hearing. "Don't you worry about a thing, Ryo. Kendrix, Tommy and I will assure that we get him back before anything really bad happens to him."

Ryo smiled lightly and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Thank you. That means a lot to me."

Alan then admitted something he thought he knew from before, "And, if I'm right, we won't have too much to fear from them."

Ryo raised an eyebrow, but all three agreed that it was something best left until morning, so they went back to bed. Blade, however, stayed awake, not just out of worry, but because of the fact that they might come back at some point.

-Floor 7-

Jessie, James and Sneasel ate at a fold-up table, consuming some lovely Vienna Sausages in a can. Not exactly gourmet cuisine, but it was nice to be eating anything at all. And it was even nicer to dangle said food in front of their captive trainer.

Josh groaned and asked, "Come on… can't you guys give me something?"

Jessie shot back, "You've had food with your friends for so long, and we haven't. It's just karma coming back at you." Josh couldn't help but shake his head at the completely bogus argument.

Unlike Sneasel and Jessie, James seemed to be just going through the motions of eating, not really enjoying the spoils of victory. Or, at least, what passed for such at the moment.

Sneasel then smirked and said, "I tink we have something to distract ya from the lack of food."

Jessie then snapped her fingers and nodded. "That's right. This would be a perfect time for you to meet the mastermind behind this plan."

Josh raised an eyebrow, very skeptical of Jessie's claim, "Seriously? He's here now?"

Jessie laughed loudly and then said, "Not our Boss, mind you. He's got nothing against you specifically. However, someone he's picked up does."

She then presented the mini-video phone that she had been given before she left base and set it up on the edge of the cage so that it would be clear to each party who was on the other end. Then, she hit redial and contacted the person who wanted to be contacted.

When his face appeared on the tiny monitor, Josh began to struggle harder, but still couldn't get angry. "You," was all Josh could say to the face on the other side.

That face, which belonged to none other than Murmuxmon, smiled a creepy grin, "In the flesh. It's been quite a while, Joshua."

Josh's response was to uselessly strain against the ropes and offer the somewhat clichéd response, "Not nearly long enough, Murmuxmon."

The grin remained on the mummy's face as he replied, "Oh, I disagree, my little friend. It's been way too long since we last saw one another." After a moment's pause, he added, "And don't worry about having to see that father of yours… I've got nothing to do with that loser anymore."

Josh frowned and then said, "Then why have you come here, just to pursue me?"

"Oh, come now. You should know the answer to that." Murmuxmon responded with a slightly disappointed tone.

Josh went into his thought process, and eventually responded, "You already took all of the darkness within me. What else could—"

Murmuxmon interrupted, "Exactly. I took all of it… every last drop of your darkness. And that is why I'm here now. I want to give you a present."

Josh began to frown, not exactly liking where this was going. But, Murmuxmon added something else which would make him a bit happier. "However, I'm not ready to receive you at the moment. There is much work to be done before I will be ready to give you my gift."

Visibly, Josh looked quite relieved to hear that, and Murmuxmon knew it. "But, don't get too comfortable. When I am ready, you'll know it. So enjoy your freedom while you can. Because, I can assure you that whatever those three will put you through now will seem like a dream compared to the nightmare you're destined for." An evil laugh would be the last thing Josh would hear before the monitor turned off.

Jessie and Sneasel both looked at their hostage, and were already thinking of things they could do to 'enhance' Josh's experience here now. James, meanwhile, looked utterly pale, thinking less about the here and now, and more about what could lie in the captive's future.

-About 3 hours later, 6:15 AM, Floor 2-

Some of the Digidestined had grumbled about waking up so early in the morning, but those grumbles and moans were quickly put to bed when Casey, Kyle and Gary found out what had transpired while they slept.

Once they found out, everyone, including a slightly begrudging Casey, was willing to wake up and head upstairs to help out their comrade.

Ryo and Blade led the way as they crested the top of the stairs, with Alan directly behind, then Gary, Kyle and Casey in no particular order or fashion. And, once again, Ryo and Blade would be faced with the checkered floor. A precautionary step by Alan onto a cracked panel confirmed that the floor was set to collapse at any time if they were careless.

Kyle looked over the challenge ahead and asked, "How are we going to get across there?"

Blade would be the one to answer the question, having considered his course all night. He swiftly jumped onto panel after panel and quickly made his way to the stairs. Alan sweatdropped and pointed to Blade on the far side of the room. "He's already figured it out."

Everyone looked at Blade standing next to the stairs, arms folded over, and a group sweatdrop would result.

Ryo then called out to Josh's partner, "Would you mind showing the rest of us how to get across?"

Blade nodded and came back the same way he went in. Alan and Gary were both observing the quick path back, and were able to pick up a couple panels each. On the second trip across, Blade went much, much slower, making a note-taking process much easier to accomplish.

Alan snickered and then asked, "You've been thinking about this all night, haven't you?"

Grovyle responded with a confident nod and a simple cry. Gary and Alan then compared their notes to assure they had gotten it right. Once that confirmation was complete, they proceeded to tell everyone exactly how to cross this floor without further injury.

Then, in what had to be the strangest thing everyone had seen since the start of the Hoenn journey, each one had to leapfrog onto the safe panels, making absolutely certain to miss the cracked ones.

But, for times when their aim was a bit off, like when Gary nearly fell through the floor and back to the first floor, Casey had her Meganium use Vine Whip to save them. An appreciated effort, as Gary gave Casey a small kiss, drawing red cheeks from both her and from Alan.

10 minutes later, everyone arrived at the stairs to the third floor. Kyle gave Blade a nice pat on the head, saying a simple, "Thank you."

Gary then asked, "Did anyone else remember there being these traps here last night?" No one could, especially since the ceiling had looked rather solid from below.

Back in Josh's room, the reason was rather simple. Inside the chamber that the Rockets had taken to calling base, there was a lever which was marked as the Trap activation lever, perfect for testing the Destined party's true capabilities.

-Floor 3-

The 5 trainers continued up to the third floor, with Blade ahead of them. When he saw the obstacle that laid ahead for them, he frowned and folded his arms. Ryo looked at the challenge, and then frowned as well.

There was a massive gap, spanning 75% of the floor and was clearly too far to jump across. Making matters worse, it was way too far for anyone to throw a Poké Ball across and access the other side. On the other side, though, was a funnel leading to who-knows-where.

Gary frowned and asked, "What are we supposed to do now? We can't exactly fly across."

The statement gave Alan a bit of an idea. "Maybe we can't, but we can utilize some special talents to span the gap and get to the next floor."

Kyle raised an eyebrow. "How are we going to do that?"

Alan's response was to pull out 2 Poké Balls. "Come on out, Jyou and Kendrix!" The former was quite happy to be called out, having grown bored with just being with Alan. The latter, however, was struggling to keep herself from accidentally flapping her wings, and possibly taking out a wall, as the room was too cramped for a Pokémon of that size.

Kendrix groaned and asked, "Why have you called me out here, Alan?"

Alan's response was a bit of a joking one, "Wake up on the wrong side of the Poké Ball?"

Kendrix's response was short and sweet, "No, but you try being cramped in a tiny room and then come tell me all about it."

Alan rolled his eyes and said, "I only need your help for a minute. Use your Psychic powers, and transport Jyou across the gap so he can send water into that funnel."

Jyou smiled and said, "I've always wanted to fly!"

The rest of the children shook their heads and prepared to watch as Kendrix used Confusion to lift the Mudkip into the air, and slowly transport him across the chasm. As he went, the tiny fish smiled a big grin and went, "Whee!" Naturally, a light sweatdrop resulted from the rest of the party.

When Jyou made it to the other side, Kendrix released him and then quickly said, "Okay, I'm done, Alan. Now, let me get back to sleep." Kendrix's 'request' was quickly fulfilled, and she was allowed to rest.

Meanwhile, across the chasm, Jyou quickly found the funnel and then smiled. "Let's see how this works." He fired off Water Gun, sending it into the wall, just as Alan had wanted on the other side.

Luckily, his theory was correct, as the water seemed to be depressing some kind of hidden switch inside the wall. As rumblings rang through the room, a stone bridge began to slide out underneath the platform Jyou was on, moving toward the other one in a rapid manner.

Gary whistled and asked, "How'd you figure that something like this would be the answer?"

Alan's answer was equal parts straightforward and vague. "When you've seen as many things as I have, you tend to pick up on certain hints."

Before anyone could delve further into the issue, the bridge hit the main platform with a loud thud, and the path across was laid clear. Alan yelled out, "Great job, Jyou!"

Jyou beamed with pride on the other side, "It's what I do."

The bridge was more than wide enough to assure that no one was going to fall off it, and so they went across it with no difficulties at all, Alan retreating Jyou shortly after the crossing was completed.

This time, though, the kiss went directly to Alan from Casey, causing him to blush once again. Kyle commented sarcastically, "What a cute couple you are."

This prompted Casey to pull a frying pan from Hammerspace and smack Kyle upside the head with it. Ryo shook his head and then asked, "Isn't that a bit of overkill, Casey?"

Casey gave an extremely sweet smile and shook her head. Meanwhile, Kyle was out cold for a minute, prompting everyone else to take a rest on this third floor, because, as Alan put it, "If we thought this was hard, chances are things are going to get harder as we get closer to them."

It was hard to argue the point, certainly, especially coming from someone who had "picked up on certain hints". So, they decided to rest while Kyle came to.

-Meanwhile, on Floor 7…-

Josh had been released from his cage and was permitted to walk around just a bit in their room. This would have been a fact that Josh would have appreciated, were it not for the fact that Jessie had decided to put the squeeze on her captive by sending out Seviper and having it wrap itself around Josh, and put him in a tough bind.

Josh gritted his teeth, trying not to give Jessie the satisfaction of knowing that she was hurting him. Unfortunately, such an act wasn't frustrating for her. She found it rather amusing that Josh was trying to put on a brave face. "Just keep right on resisting that urge to scream out in pain. I've got all day to wait for you."

To further illustrate the point, she pulled out a watch and began to tick off the seconds. Seviper squeezed a little bit harder, making it very challenging to keep moving, but impossible to fall, which was exactly what it was looking for.

Josh tried to figure a way out of his circumstances, but between the ropes and the snake itself, escape was absolutely impossible.

But, it wasn't until Sneasel got the bright idea to give Josh a good, solid clawing in the face that he would yell out in agony, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" The scream took a good 20 seconds or so, as Seviper remained in place.

Jessie laughed evilly, as did Sneasel. "You see? There's nothing you can do to stop us. And, thanks to the special Rocket locks placed on your Poké Balls, neither can your Pokémon." Jessie pointed out, smirking.

Josh groaned in pain and then Sneasel asked, "You wanna have some more?"

It would be James who would point out to his two colleagues, "Remember, Murmuxmon wants him alive. If you push it too far…"

Jessie scoffed, "He'll be fine! We haven't really done anything to him yet!"

James then insisted, "You'd rather take the chance of a freak accident occurring? If the Boss finds out we blew this mission, it would be bad news for all of us!"

A soft growl emanated from Jessie as she thought this over. But, in the end, there was little she could do to argue with her human partner. So, to add one last bit of torture to her captive's treatment, she had Seviper lunge off of Josh quickly, like a string would go off of a little toy top.

The result was completely predictable. Josh spun like a top and got extremely dizzy as he spun, conveniently, back into his cage, and as the door slammed shut, Josh slammed into the back set of bars, and he winced and fell on the floor, in greater pain than just a minute ago, blood splattering to the floor through the cut.

Jessie and Sneasel laughed for a few more moments, and then she yawned. "If we're not going to be able to gain any more entertainment out of him, we might as well hit the sack. It'll be awhile before those friends of his arrive."

Sneasel then pointed to James and demanded, "You're going to watch over our little prisoner! Make yourself useful for once!"

James nodded sadly, and as the others went to sleep, his mind was wandering onto all sorts of topics. But, the most dominating thought of all was this one: ~Do I really belong here with the two of them?~

-Floor 3, about 20 minutes later-

Kyle groaned and began to wake up, rubbing the back of his head gingerly. "What on earth happened to me?"

"What else? Hammerspace struck again," Gary's response came.

Needless to say, Casey had been separated from Kyle, so when he woke up, she didn't know it. Alan was trying to get her to calm down. "You don't wanna keep doing this sort of thing. You're going to accidentally kill someone one of these days."

Casey sighed quietly and nodded, "I know. But, I just can't help it. When someone pisses me off, they're going to know it, and know it rather quickly."

Alan sighed and then patted Casey on the back, "Just try to control that explosive temper of yours, okay?"

Kyle began to get up and Ryo called out, "We're moving up to the fourth floor. And we're going now."

It was slow going at first, as Kyle was still trying to shake out the inevitable cobwebs of being smacked on the back of the head.

For this exact reason, when the five of them reached the fourth floor, Kyle thought he was still feeling the effects of the frying pan. He rubbed his eyes, not quite believing what he was seeing. "Guys? I think I need to rest a little longer."

Gary, who was transfixed on what was ahead of him as well, asked, "Why is that?"

In a sheepish voice, Kyle admitted, "I think I'm seeing the ghosts of some ancient Pokémon blocking our way."

No one looked at Kyle in a strange manner at all, and Ryo's response would explain why. "You don't need a rest… unless all of us do. Because, that's exactly what was in front of us now."

Not reassured in the slightest, Kyle sighed, "Oh."

Blade charged into battle, arm blades at the ready as he leapt at one of the ancient Pokémon in the room, a small bug crawling on the ground.

Unfortunately, the attack against the bug would proceed to go through the Pokémon and end up scraping on the ground. It then attacked Blade and sent it backwards with a simple Tackle. Not powerful by any means, but at the same time, it did get a message across.

Kyle pulled out his Pokédex and asked, "Who is that?"

This time, however, Dex was far less useful than it had been with Trapinch. "Pokédex cannot get a scan on this creature. Its identity is unknown." Everyone's attention was caught by the extremely unhelpful voice of Pokédex.

Alan sweatdropped and shook his head, "Well, I suppose it could have found a way to be less helpful. What that way is, I can't even think of at the moment."

Casey thought about something she had learned quite some time ago, and then called out, with a toss of a Poké Ball, "Go, Aquaris!"

Casey's own Mudkip flew out of her Poké Ball with a happy cry, "Mudkip!"

"Use Water Gun on that bug-looking Pokémon!" Casey commanded her creature in a determined tone.

Mudkip obeyed the order and shot out a stream of water at the tiny bug. What happened next was quite astonishing. At first, the attack didn't do jack squat, as it flew right through the creature. But, when it approached for an attack, it suddenly was affected, and spluttered under the deluge.

Everyone blinked quite a few times, but it would be Alan and Kendrix who would figure out the problem simultaneously. "That creature is guarding this place, and is a ghost or something. It can only be physically attacked when it is about to attack itself."

It was a brilliant way of guarding this place, as the majority of trainers would have turned around and left before figuring out the secret to these sentinels. Fortunately, the Digidestined were not the majority of trainers, and were much smarter… or luckier, depending on how one wishes to look at it.

Shortly after this, Kyle yelled, "Come out, Noble!" as he threw his Pikachu's Poké Ball out. The small yellow mouse would soon emerge. "Pika pi!" she yelled as she came forth.

Kyle's next command was slightly complex. "Watch those two, and then, when you see them move in, use Iron Tail!" Noble nodded and proceeded to watch the battlefield closely.

"Aquaris, continue the downpour with Water Gun!" She was only too happy to oblige her partner, and continued to douse the opponents with her constant stream of water.

The moment the green-tinged creature shot out toward Aquaris with Mega Drain, Noble shot in like a bolt of lightning and used Iron Tail on the illusory Pokémon.

The results were immediate and painful, as the illusion shattered into pieces, existing no more. The other one would quickly follow suit, after being drenched with water.

All three trainers who stood out of the first fight smiled at the two conquering heroes. "Great job," Ryo exclaimed, very pleased with their ability to work together.

Noble and Mudkip would both cry out, as if to say, "Thanks!"

A secret panel slid in the far wall, revealing a stairway leading upward. Alan groaned and palmed his face in slight embarrassment. "How did I know that was coming? So clichéd…"

Even more clichéd was the challenge that awaited the five of them when they crested the stairs onto the next floor. Stronger illusory Pokémon blocked the path up to the sixth floor. The small crawling bug was replaced with a much larger bug which could stand upright, and looked very impressive, as if it had armor. The green Pokémon was also much larger, and looked quite a bit more menacing.

Alan shook his head and said, "Well, at least it isn't the giant rolling boulder."

Ryo then covered up Alan's mouth and insisted, "Don't say things like that! You're only going to tempt natural forces to make things harder!"

Tommy jumped out of his Poké Ball and smirked, "Finally, a real challenge!"

Ryo called out Charmeleon and smirked as well. "That's for darn sure… about time we got a real opponent."

Gary would be the third party into this fight, calling out, "Go, Blastoise!" The massive turtle Pokémon came out with its trademark cry.

Moments later, the three of them would command their Pokémon into battle against these two beasts… but almost as if the tower were reacting to the unfairness of the proposition, a third illusory Pokémon was summoned, this one imitating a short creature with a spiral shell on its back. With that done, the battle began.

-Meanwhile, Floor 7-

Jessie and Sneasel slept soundly for the first time in a long time, both of them dreaming of the lavish praise being laid upon them by their Boss, as well as the two evil Digimon who had joined forces with them.

Josh was trying to sleep as well, but found the going a bit tough, between the stinging pain of the gash on his face, and the ropes. The metal floor didn't help things any, either. As a result, Josh's sleep was light at best.

Which was a point that normally wouldn't have been relevant… but, it was here, because Josh was shook from his sleep when the lock on his cage was undone and the door was opened.

He dreaded what he thought was about to happen, but was astonished when he suddenly felt the ropes begin to loosen around his arms. He then turned around and was about to say something when he saw James sitting there, finger over his lips to signal that Josh needed to stay quiet.

James then rolled Josh back over and continued untying the knots which Jessie had created to keep the captive helpless. Josh closed his eyes and kept waiting until the bonds were gone, then he brought his hands in front of him and began to try and soothe the skin where he was gashed.

James then actually brought forth some antiseptic and a bandage to give Josh the best chance he could manage to avoid permanent scarring. Josh then asked as quietly as he could, "But… why help me out?"

James looked at the floor and responded, "Honestly, I couldn't live with myself if I just let them take you, having heard some of the things they were going to do with you."

Josh nodded, buying that excuse full-stop. "I see…" He did sound a bit skeptical, because James had never had quite the crisis of conscience that he appeared to be having right now.

He then crawled out of the cage and began to stretch before beginning to remove the locks on his Poké Balls. Unsurprisingly, they came off with little difficulty, since this was nothing more than a test.

James crawled out of the cage and then proceeded to make a very unusual request of Josh. "Please, take me with you out of here."

Josh looked at James in the eyes and asked, "Why would I do that? I thought you were friends with them. It would explain how you'd been able to stay together so long despite… well… you know."

James thought about his answer for a moment, after telling Josh that he took no offense at his comments. "Those two there, in that room, they aren't my friends anymore. They're not the same people since they got that Digi-Egg that we made you give us."

Josh looked down at the floor and then said, "Yeah… it was remarkable to me that I was able to pull it out at all, because, as you heard Murmuxmon say, I don't actually own any darkness within me anymore."

James looked in the direction of his two friends and sighed. "I want to help them, but I don't think I can do it by staying near them. I can do more if I come with you and begin to oppose them directly."

After a few moments of thinking about this, Josh said in a very serious voice, "This is a serious request, and not some sort of trap, right?"

Honestly, James couldn't blame Josh for being completely suspicious of his motives, so all he could do is ask again. "Please, let me come with you guys and help them out."

Josh could sense a lot of sincerity in his voice, and then his mind turned to the other aspect of this request: what would happen if Josh refused to allow James to come with him. His mind raced through the possibilities of how bad things would be for the purple-haired Rocket when Jessie and Sneasel discovered that he'd escaped.

And when Josh combined this aspect with the sincerity found in James' voice, there was only one thing he could do. "…Fine. You can come with me and leave this place."

James' eyes twinkled brightly with excitement and he said simply, "Thank you."

Josh then had to ask, "What about the Digi-Egg of Darkness?"

"I wouldn't recommend going there right now. We don't know what we'd do with it once we got it out of that device it's stored in now. Or what it might do to you or to me before we get it back to its rightful owner." James explained in a rare show of intelligence.

There was little Josh could do to argue with the statement. But, it didn't stop him from making one move before they departed. He walked over to the trap activation lever and pulled it back to the off position.

The small click that the lever made caused both Jessie and Sneasel to turn over in their sleep. Sneasel said, "Stop it, Boss… we don't deserve that much money…"

Both boys looked at each other and chuckled lightly before they began the trip down to the floor below.

-Meanwhile, on Floor 5…-

Even with Blastoise's Hydro Pump providing good support for the two Digital Pokémon, the battle against the three mystery Pokémon wasn't going well. Gary asked, "What is up with these three?"

Alan yelled out, "They seem a lot more intelligent than the ones downstairs!"

Before Charmeleon could make a remark about how they didn't seem to be any smarter, only stronger, out of absolutely nowhere the three of them disappeared and the doorway leading up to the sixth floor opened up.

Everyone looked at each other, very confused as to what the heck had just happened. Kyle then suggested, "We really shouldn't question what just happened here. We should just get moving to the next floor."

There was little to argue with, but Alan was still trying to figure out what happened. So much so that he was still standing there with Tommy after everyone else had retreated their Pokémon and ascended to the next floor.

"Um… hello? Earth to Alan!" Tommy said while jumping up and down, trying desperately to gain the attention of his partner.

Alan eventually snapped out of his funk and then groaned when he saw that everyone else was gone. He looked down at Tommy and asked, "Why didn't you tell me everyone else was going?"

Tommy responded with a question of his own, "Would you have preferred I set your head on fire like Ash's Charizard used to do?"

Alan sweatdropped, sent his partner back into his Ball, and raced up the stairs after his friends. What he found when he got there was quite remarkable, though. The four remaining members of the Digidestined were confronted with two others from further up in the tower: Josh and James.

Kyle and Ryo had been quick to greet Josh while Alan was in his funk, but things had grown quiet very quickly when James was revealed.

Alan asked, "What's going on here?"

"Josh is only inviting one of our enemies to travel with us. Nothing DANGEROUS, or anything like that." Casey said in her standard obnoxious tone.

"You're wrong, Casey! He's not dangerous at all! In fact, if it weren't for him, I'd still be locked upstairs, waiting on the rest of you!" Josh defended James from the verbal blows of his friends.

Ryo had his hand underneath his chin, thinking to himself. He spoke out, "Are you certain we can trust him? Not long ago, he was up there, and a part of their party."

At that moment, quite surprisingly, Kyle spoke up and said, "I was locked up with him when we were both framed, back in Mauville. I think I know him pretty well, and he's not a bad guy. He's just loyal to what Jessie and Sneasel were doing, that's all."

James looked at Kyle and remembered some of those conversations. Not much else one could do while behind bars awaiting a bogus trial, after all.

It was about now that the groundswell began to change from supporting the barring of James from their party, to the other way around. And it began with Alan. "If Josh and Kyle trust him, then I trust him too."

The expression on James' face brightened when he heard that. Next was Casey who spoke, "And if Alan believes him, then I'll do it, too."

Gary pointed out, "I'm only a guest here. It's not my place to say anything about who you drag along on your little journey."

This left only Ryo to think about it, not that the process took that long. "Frankly, I was sold the minute Josh decided to believe in him." He smiled gently, and then James began to smile again.

"You won't be disappointed." James insisted strongly.

As they started to leave this place behind, in a much simpler fashion than before, James thought of something and then began to reach into his pockets. He found the items he was looking for shortly after they reached the third floor and pulled out a couple of fossils he'd found in the top floor chamber after Josh pulled the lever.

He then proceeded to poke Josh and Kyle on the shoulder, bringing both trainers back to him. "Thanks, for believing in me," James said, a gentle smile dancing across his face.

Both trainers nodded to the newly reformed James. "It's no problem. Everyone deserves a second chance, if they are willing to take it." Josh philosophized quietly.

James then presented the two fossils to them. "Here, you can have these. I found them in some sort of container up there just before we left."

Both trainers blinked, and then looked at James, and back to the fossils again. "Gee… thanks, James." Kyle said in a still quite surprised tone. He would take the fossil which looked sort of like it was a claw broken off of something, which left the one which looked like the base of something else for Josh.

Once they got to the bottom, Josh was allowed to gather his things from the alcove in which they'd slept, providing much better storage of the fossil in his backpack, before they walked out of the Tower.

At about this time, however, Jessie began to stir, ready to perform some more exercises on Josh. But, when she saw that he was gone, along with James, she was royally pissed.

Unfortunately, she would only make matters worse when she flipped the trap activation switch, hoping to snare some of those pesky Destined trainers below her. It all went wrong, though, because of the fact that James had taken the two fossils hidden in the room.

The tower began to shake violently, and even the kids outside were having trouble staying on their feet. Sneasel woke up almost immediately and asked, "What da heck did ya just do?!"

Jessie, looking very sheepish, admitted, "I don't know what I did."

Sadly, it really didn't matter what she did. One fact was clear. The tower was sinking into the sands below, hence why the locals had called it Mirage Tower. And with those two sitting at the top, there was no chance of escape before it sank completely, so they braced themselves for a nasty impact.

Outside, Ryo called out, "Everyone get away from there!" There was little hesitation, as they ran a good 100 feet from the tower to assure that they didn't get hit hard by flying debris, or sink with the tower.

-5 minutes later-

The rumblings finally stopped, and the tower was no more, at least on the surface it wasn't. James had tears in his eyes, thinking that now he'd truly lost his friends forever. He refused to say anything to anyone on the subject.

After some extended silence, which was naturally filled with howling winds, Ryo pointed out, "You have had some tremendous tenacity over the years. I am certain that they are alive, somewhere."

James sniffled and then nodded. "I hope you're right…"

-Hoenn Rocket HQ-

Giovanni was cursing up a storm, saying something about their previous success being nothing but a fluke, and how worthless James actually was, and basically anything he could vent his anger on at that moment.

It was then that Murmuxmon reminded him, "Remember, this was only meant to act as a test, not the final product. We have lots of time to deal with those idiots after we find out some more about our other opponents, those foolish Teams Magma and Aqua."

Devidramon pointed out, "The ones that Miller person devastated so badly at Mauville City's disaster, right?"

Murmuxmon smirked. "The very same, my anxious little minion… however, we have much recon work to do to find the best method to squash all of our foes."

Giovanni then asked, "And just what do we do about the Digidestined?"

Murmuxmon answered very briefly, "We don't. We just let them wander around, thinking they can stop us, while we keep an eye on them. Then, when they least expect it, we strike."

Devidramon cackled. "Brilliant! They won't know what hit them!"

Murmuxmon stared back at the monitor, watching the Destined begin to walk north and out of the desert. "They sure won't… it's only a matter of time now, before everything belongs to us."

-Back in the desert…-

Ryo had grilled Josh about everything he knew about the new evil force in Hoenn, based entirely upon what he had experienced earlier that morning. And, he'd found out exactly what they had both thought was true. That Murmuxmon was behind everything, and in an even more frightening development, that Team Rocket had joined up with both of the evil Digimon to form an evil conglomerate.

"I don't care what you say to try and stop me, but I'm contacting Oak when we get to Fallarbor. Whether you like it or not, we don't have the strength to try and stop a Mega-Level Digimon and an evil criminal organization." Ryo reasoned with Josh to try and get him to let someone else fight with him.

Josh shook his head a few times, "Until we're able to figure out how Digimon can exist here without the need to feed on someone else, it would be a complete waste of time. And besides…"

Ryo blinked and then asked, "What? What's wrong?"

Josh's response was very simple, "All the Digidestined we know, with a few exceptions, are people who are now 'stuck' in school. It wouldn't exactly do for them to tell their teachers 'I've gotta go save another world. Can I get 4 or 5 months off?' now would it?"

Ryo scratched his head and thought about this. Sure, it was a long way to go to make a point, but the point was made well enough.

It was then that the strongest case for calling back to Kanto came forward. "I think Ryo's right. Frankly, I'm not even sure we could beat them back, if I could Digivolve Tommy to his highest level." Alan admitted, making Josh do a bit of a double-take.

Kyle then asked in a cheerful voice, "Besides, what could possibly be the downside? Worst-case scenario, we have to draw a couple more Digidestined trainers here, or introduce a couple others to Pokémon training. The more the merrier, as they say."

Josh thought about this for awhile, quite a while, in fact, for it wasn't until they reached the edge of the desert that he made his decision. "All right, when we get to Fallarbor, I'll contact Mom and let her know what's going on." As an afterthought, Josh added, "As well as Professor Oak, of course."

Gary scoffed and said, "Remember? I'm in constant contact with Grandpa. I'll call him myself."

Josh smiled lightly and nodded. "Thank you, Gary."

Gary then prepared to leave them behind, and turned to the newcomer, James. He joked, "Make sure to take good care of them. They get into trouble rather easily."

A couple of calls of "Hey" came from the party as Alan and Kyle both gave Gary a playful stare. James couldn't help but laugh. "I'll do my best."

And then, as Gary began to wander off, just for old time's sake, he uttered his famous phrase from long ago, "Smell ya later!" He waved at them as he wandered back toward Mount Chimney, with the Destined waving back.

It went without saying that Ryo, Alan and Casey also put away their goggles, but Josh and Kyle did not for some reason. Casey then yelled out, "Now, onto Fallarbor!" Everyone cheered, anxious for a new start.

Narrator: And so, thanks to some help from an unexpected source, the Digidestined's time in the desert was not without its profit. One story might have ended, but a new one begins for James, who finds his new home with the Digidestined. What kinds of surprises await our heroes as they continue their journey toward Fallarbor Conference? The answer waits just over the horizon…

-Meanwhile…-

Far below the sands, Jessie and Sneasel stumbled out of the tower and into a small cavern buried deep below the sands. It went without saying that Jessie's blood pressure was somewhere well above safe levels. She was so angry that it looked like steam should have been blowing out of her ears.

"I will get him back for this indignity…" Jessie mused, seething inside.

Sneasel looked at the human and tilted his head, "Get who back? The kid in da cage?"

Jessie shook her head. "No… it was nothing personal when it came to him. But James… that dang fool… he had the nerve, the gall… to betray US! After all of the time we've spent together!"

Sneasel hadn't been frightened of much since his transformation just a couple days ago. But this was right at the top of the list.

Jessie then made a vow, "When we figure our way out of here, we will get him back a thousand times over!" The Digi-Egg of Darkness spun faster inside of the Digivice which it called home now.

Next Time: Two trainers decide they could do with the services of the other's Pokémon, but gain mixed results from the creatures themselves. Will they be able to save the Razz Orchard from the forces of evil? And will James truly find a new home amongst the Digidestined? Find out on the next episode of Digicross Advanced!


	12. RoD 12: Apples to Razz Berries

Narrator: Today, we find our heroes continuing north beyond Sandstorm Desert, moving rapidly toward their next major event: Fallarbor Conference. But, money strains are beginning to weigh heavily on the minds of these kids, who aren't used to being poor.

Digicross Advanced Episode 42: "Apples to Razz Berries"

Episode Written by Josh Johannesen

As the six people continued to the north, the mood was fairly somber. Despite the fact that they had just managed to conquer an ancient tower full of traps, albeit with a last-minute bailout by James, there was something on the minds of all of the Digidestined.

Ryo turned to their new ally and asked, "And why exactly don't you have any of that stuff you guys stole from us?"

James shook his head and responded, "I told you before. The higher-ups took it all when we docked with the Oneliner."

Casey asked, "And how much money do you carry on you?"

James reached into his pockets and pulled out around 5,000 Poké. Alan frowned and did some math in his head. "That means, between us, we've got about 14,500 Poké. Not exactly a fortune."

After that revelation was stated by Alan, the group grew quiet and continued walking forward toward the north end of Route 111, and the intersection with Route 113 along the north side of Mount Chimney.

As they continued walking north, they began to notice signs on the side of the road advertising a location ahead of them with slogans like, "Stop in and have a sip of the good life at Razz Orchard." As well as, "Pick yourself up and have a good time down on the farm."

Kyle sighed and said, "I wish we could afford to go there. It'd be nice to have a real bed for once."

Alan pointed out, again, "We don't have the money to afford to do such things right now."

It was about this time that Josh noticed a tiny note stuck to the second sign, and he walked over to it. Ryo blinked and asked, "What's up?"

Josh looked over the tiny note, and then nodded. "Maybe we won't need the money. It looks like Razz Orchard needs some temporary hands during the busy season."

James groaned and asked, "Does that mean we'll have to do actual work?"

Josh shrugged and said, "No one's forcing you to do anything. But, I think we might be able to squeeze some good money out of this, and take a few days rest before we begin the final charge on our trip toward Fallarbor. I know I want an opportunity to get away from the stresses of our recent trip." He ended his statement with a small smile.

Kyle then joked, "So, basically, you wanna replace the stresses of facing evil with the stresses of doing some work."

Josh then snickered and added, "Don't forget. We will have to work, yes. But, we do have our Pokémon to help us out as well."

"Every time you get your idea set on something, there's no taking you off the idea, Josh." Ryo said with a snicker of his own. "Fine, I'll come along and make sure you do things right."

Josh's response to Ryo's 'claim' was a playful smirk, as they both knew the other was fooling with them. Josh's playful attitude didn't end there, for he next made a verbal swipe at Casey. "Come on, Casey. It would do you some good to work off some of that excess energy of yours."

Casey wasn't quite as playful as Josh was, and became a bit annoyed by Josh's statement. "I'll show you too much energy!" She chased after Josh, and Josh ran toward the farm ahead.

Alan and James both grew sweatdrops on their foreheads as they watched the scene unfolding in front of them.

A short time later, Josh and Casey arrived at the Razz Orchard, with the others not too far behind. Both were winded, and breathed quite heavily as a result. It had been awhile since they had done a quarter-mile of running at once.

The others caught up in their own time, walking so that they weren't winded at all. Alan shook his head and commented, "You know, Casey, you probably shouldn't have proven Josh right on his comment."

Casey looked over at Alan and, while continuing to breathe hard, simply said, "Shut… up…"

At that time, a young man with blonde hair and wearing what one might consider typical farm clothes, a short-sleeved T, blue jeans and work boots, came to the gate and looked out at the trainers on the trail leading along the west side of the farm. He walked over to the gate and asked, "Excuse me, but are you staying here, or are you going?"

The Digidestined, and James, turned to the young man at the gates, who looked at them with a great amount of suspicion. Ryo then explained, "I'm sorry, we were just thinking about whether or not we wanted to come in there and ask for a temporary job."

The suspicion on the farmer's face was quickly wiped away and turned into a smile. "You're the first people to want to help us out! Welcome to Razz Orchard! I'm Mark."

Josh, being the one who had been the most anxious to begin this task, stepped forward and introduced everyone else in turn.

Mark beamed and said, "Mighty nice to meet ya."

Alan stepped in and talked a little bit, "Likewise. Look, why did you look at us before so suspiciously, like we're some kinda thieves or something?"

Mark shook his head for a moment. "Sorry about that, but you see, we've been having some problems with berry-nappers taking our supply of berries right off the tress while me and my dad sleep."

Ryo shook his head and responded, "Real sad, when not even berries can be safe anymore."

Alan took a slightly more logical approach and asked, "How do you know it's not a Pokémon?"

An older man walked out of the nearby lodge and responded, "Because, when we wake up in the morning, there's always some boot prints leading right over our fence, but once on the other side, they disappear on the harder ground of the Route."

It would be Kyle who would make a good suggestion, "Why not hire a sentry to watch over your trees overnight?"

The older man turned to Kyle quickly and smiled, "What a great idea! You got the job!"

Kyle was immediately taken aback by the suggestion and raised his hands, turning them to suggest he thought this was a bad idea. "Oh, no, no, no. I didn't mean—"

Mark smiled and said, "Come on. You'll be perfect for the job!" He then turned his attention to the remainder of the Digidestined team. "You think any of these others will be good for some work around here?"

His dad looked over all of them, including Josh and Ryo in the front, Alan, Casey and James in the back. He pointed to the two boys in the front and said, "They look like they can easily do some work out in the fields, maintaining the trees and getting our harvest for the day."

Josh sweatdropped, and looked at his friend. It was clear he wasn't used to working too hard for anything, at least not in the physical sense.

From the back line, James pointed out, "I can cook pretty well."

The response from the man was immediate and decisive. "Good to hear it, young man. I'll be more than happy to get your help in making the various products we ship out all over Hoenn from these berries."

James smiled, quite pleased with that lot. Alan and Casey looked at each other, and then back to the owners. "What exactly do you have in mind for the two of us to do?"

A minute went by without any response from the owner, before he suddenly said, "You know, we could go ahead and have the two of you work in the lodge. Maintaining beds and some light cooking of some food for the occasional guest… you know, the basic things." After another moment, he added, "And cooking food for all of us at the end of the day. An important job."

Both lovestruck trainers smiled at each other. In comparison to the work that Josh and Ryo would have to do with Mark and his father, their task was as easy as could be.

-Half an hour later-

Out in the fields, Josh was seen holding a wicker basket and standing under a Wepear Berry tree, because despite the fact that it was called the Razz Orchard, they did grow more than a single variety of berry.

Climbing the tree at that moment was Blade, who was being very careful not to harm any of the precious fruits, at least those which were left. When he found a suitable berry, he would cleanly slice off the berry from the main branch, remove any applicable twigs, and then toss down the berry to Josh after calling out to him.

Josh smiled and called out, "Nice job, Blade!" Blade would take a moment to show appreciation before moving to the next berry.

Meanwhile, Josh's Poochyena kept his nose to the proverbial grindstone by sniffing out pests like the occasional Sandshrew and scaring them away by barking loudly. Most of the Pokémon didn't want to be discovered, so they quickly dug back underground and headed back toward the Desert.

To Kyle, though, the downside to the barking was that it kept him from going to sleep, since he was going to be out in the field on sentry duty later that night. "Me and my frigging big mouth…" Kyle mused as he covered his head with a pillow, trying to drown out the noise.

Elsewhere in the fields, Ryo was on his own form of sentry duty, with Charmeleon leading the way. The fire-type Pokémon shook his own head and complained, "This is such a boring job. Why did you ever take a job like this in the first place?"

Ryo reminded Charmeleon, "We're trying to make some money so that we can afford food and other necessities when we reach Fallarbor Town."

Charmeleon snickered and remarked, "It's a good thing Snorlax isn't here. You couldn't work here long enough to earn enough to feed him."

Ryo sweatdropped and then insisted, "Just get back to doing your job…" He pointed out a weed a moment later, and Charmeleon smirked before he released a small puff of fire, incinerating the annoyance without harming the land around it.

Ryo then pulled up the weed and smiled, "Not bad… not bad at all."

Charmeleon then boasted, "I'm not going to let a lowly weed beat me. How could I expect to beat someone like Devidramon if I can't beat a weed?"

Ryo laughed, as did Mark and his father, who were doing things the old-fashioned way, cultivating some new soil and preparing to plant some new trees, Nanab trees to be exact.

Inside the house, James stood over a pot, cooking up some soup made with some meat from a nearby refrigerator and some vegetables. "This place has some great stuff to cook with."

Cacnea was out of her Poké Ball, but more for moral support than to serve any real purpose in assisting James in his cooking endeavor. After all, it wouldn't exactly have been a good idea to reach one's arm into a pot of boiling water.

And in the lodge's sleeping quarters, Alan was wiping off some furniture, with the assistance of Jyou. But, like Charmeleon, he wondered out loud, "Why would you take a job like this? This isn't exactly a hero's work, now is it?"

Alan sighed and shook his head, "No, it's not. But, I think the rest of my friends don't want to feel like they're doing nothing but leeching off Birch and I."

Jyou covered a rag with some water, and Alan applied some soap, as they buffed some tables. The young Mudkip asked, "Do you feel like they're leeching off you?"

Alan immediately shook his head. "Of course I don't feel that way… but, if they feel that way, then who would I be to stand in their way?"

"Guess you got a point there…" Jyou said with a sigh.

In another bedroom, the sounds of a vacuum cleaner rang out as Casey used it to clean some of the floors in the bedroom. And it all went well at first, as she was pretty good at cleaning up when she wanted to.

Unfortunately, she had decided that to save the proprietors some money, she'd "hook up" the vacuum to Elekid instead of the wall socket. Which, on paper, seemed like a good idea… in practice, though, the loud noise scared Elekid, and caused it to discharge more energy than it should have.

But, instead, it made the vacuum go faster and have more sucking power. As a result, she began to suck up the rug in the middle of the bedroom, and was caught by surprise. She yelled, "Turn it off now!" But, Elekid couldn't hear her over the loud noise, forcing the trainer to walk over and pick up her Pokémon.

But, with the current still running, she ended up zapped badly as the din of the vacuum finally began to subside.

Alan ran over from the next room and saw Casey with her hair standing on end, and arcs of electricity running between them, hugging her Elekid. He scratched his head and asked, "Are you all right?"

It took a minute, but Casey nodded, "I'll be fine… just need to rest…" She walked over to the bed, set down Elekid, and laid down.

Alan then had to do twice the work to cover for Casey's little debacle, but he was more than up to the task, especially when he asked Kendrix for a bit of psychic intervention. Sure, it wasn't exactly what the two farmers had in mind when they signed all these trainers up for some temp help, but it worked out just fine in their view.

-Around 6:00 PM-

James' soup was served in terracotta bowls to every person working at the ranch at the moment. He did look rather proud of himself, because he'd done something honest for the first time in a very long time.

The even better news was that the soup tasted rather well, as was expressed by all the smiles on all of the faces of everyone present at the dinner table. Casey, who had finally recovered from her stunning experience earlier, was the most satisfied. "This is really very, very good, James!" She beamed toward their new ally.

James' pride swelled a little bit more upon hearing that statement. "Thanks a lot!" he said with a lot of satisfaction.

Ryo smiled and asked, "Did you do a lot of cooking when you were with Team Rocket?"

James shrugged lightly, "I don't know. Most of the food we got was of the pre-made variety, and even that was seldom, between all of our problems with Pikachu, and then you guys before I came to my senses."

Alan turned to their new ally and said with a smile, "You see how satisfying it can be to do something honest, instead of trying to steal from everyone all the time?"

James nodded and smiled. Josh looked over at Kyle and snickered, "Are you ready to go into the night shift?"

Kyle rubbed his head and sighed. "Not really, but I'm gonna just have to do it."

Mark smiled, "Relax, already. Even with as large as our fields are, it'll be hard to miss… I think." He looked at his father, who shrugged quietly, shaking his head.

Of course, the fact that neither had actually seen who was behind the thefts as of yet made a realistic judgment on apprehension difficult at best.

Alan then re-assured his friend, "Don't worry about it. Just do your best. It's all anyone can ask for."

Kyle gave a weak smile to Alan and nodded, "Thanks."

-Later that night…-

Kyle wandered the fields, flashlight in hand, trying to look for any signs of the thieves. He was, admittedly, a little bit frightened by what, or who, he might find wandering around out there.

But, during the first several hours of the night, absolutely nothing happened in any way, shape or form. Kyle walked about, flashlight in hand, and he heard absolutely nothing coming from in front of him, behind him, or anywhere else within the proximity of him.

Kyle thought to himself, ~Maybe just the act of being a sentry will scare off whoever is trying to jack all of these berries.~

And, for awhile, he was right. For sitting just off the Ranch's property, out on Route 111 was a shadowy figure. There was nothing which was really remarkable about this person, but he or she waited silently.

After a couple hours of wandering around with nothing happening, it was hard for Evanick to stay awake. So, he released Koffing, with the hope that if Kyle went to sleep, he would generate a smokescreen to wake him up again.

Again, it was a good plan, in theory, as Kyle went to sleep about half an hour after that. But, like Casey's plan, there was a considerable downside which hadn't been considered ahead of time. In Kyle's case, it was the fact that the Smokescreen made it impossible for Kyle to see anything outside the screen… or inside it, for that matter.

The thief smirked and leapt over the fence, moving quietly to hit several trees and remove some berries while Kyle was coughing and completely distracted.

By the time the screen cleared, the thief had made well his or her getaway, causing Kyle to groan loudly when he saw evidence of tree tampering. "Okay, that wasn't my brightest idea ever."

The rest of the night went off without further damage, fortunately. Apparently, the thief had gotten everything they wanted tonight. Kyle shook his head and closed his eyes for a moment. "Hopefully, I at least reduced their damage…"

-The following morning-

Mark came out first and relieved Kyle of his duties, and then began to examine the trees. He counted off the places where berries were clearly stolen from, and then proceeded to compare that number to yesterday's number.

As Kyle walked back to the farmhouse, feeling down about his idea to stay awake, Mark came back and smiled. "Well, it's a start. We lost about 50% less berries last night."

Kyle blinked and looked at Mark, eyebrow raised in skepticism, "Seriously? The improvement was that dramatic?"

Mark nodded and smiled, "Of course! Now, of course, we'll be looking to reduce that count even more tonight!"

Kyle looked down again, "But…"

Mark patted him on the back and responded, "We didn't expect perfection overnight, Kyle. It's a solid start, and all you have to do is keep improvin'!"

Kyle looked at the farmer boy and then began to smile a bit, visibly looking much better. "Thanks Mark. I think I needed to hear that."

Mark nodded lightly, "Not a problem at all. Now, go get some sleep and come back tonight!"

Kyle went inside and saw the remainder of the Digidestined sitting around the breakfast table, eating some rather basic foods like Josh's bagels and Ryo's rice. Kyle sat down and had some cereal as his "dinner".

Alan asked, "So, how was your first night on the job?"

"Don't even ask," Kyle said, shaking his head.

Josh looked and then smiled, "Don't worry about it too much. You're only bound to get better."

Alan added, "He's right, you know."

Casey added, "Yeah… for once in his life."

Josh grunted in mild annoyance, but couldn't do anything else. Casey sweatdropped, expecting much more of a response from her rival.

Kyle ate in relative silence, clearly still dwelling on his mistake from the previous night… that, and trying to figure out how he could improve his performance.

About 25 minutes later, the table had been cleared of everyone except for Kyle, as they had gone out to work in their various areas of the field and house.

Kyle continued to remain silent, thinking about things pretty clearly. ~There's not really anyone on my team who can do much when we're looking for a hidden opponent at night. Maybe I should think about augmenting my team with someone who can seek out opponents much better.~

At about that moment, barks came from outside, and Josh's Poochyena sending away another Sandshrew digging in the garden.

As the Sandshrew was sent away, Josh cheered, "Nice job, little buddy!" Poochyena barked in recognition of his gratitude.

Kyle thought about this for a minute and then walked over to the window to watch Josh and Poochyena. And while Josh had to continue gathering the last of their needed berry harvest, with the assistance of Blade, Poochyena kept his nose to the ground, sniffing things out that most could not.

It was then that Kyle got the brainwave he was looking for. ~That's it! If I trade with Josh, I might be able to find the thief… but what could he want that I have…?~

-Outside-

Josh strained to hold up the 10 pound wicker basket, which got heavier with each new berry which was added to it. "This… is… hard… work!" Josh said in what turned out to be the understatement of the year, especially for someone not used to that much hard work.

Ryo snickered from his area of the field, now assigned to additional harvesting on this final day. "You're the one who insisted on coming here, so you've got no one to blame but yourself for this."

Josh nodded lightly, sweating quite a bit, "I know, I know…"

Mark's father insisted, "A bit of work does a body good, Josh! Keep you fit and trim!"

To which Josh shot back, "I wouldn't exactly call this a 'bit' of work."

Ryo, Mark and his father laughed.

Kyle walked out at that moment and up to Josh, "Can I talk with you for a minute?"

Josh nodded, "Just a few more berries…" Blade would quickly shave off the last of the berries from this tree and toss them down into the basket. "I'm done, sir." Josh would tell Mark's father.

Mark smiled, "Just carry them inside, and tell James and Casey to get to work on making the by-products."

Josh nodded and began to walk… very slowly, mind you, toward the house. Blade got underneath the basket and helped Josh hold it up. Kyle decided he would add his own muscle to the mix as well.

Between the two trainers and the single Pokémon, they got the basket inside the house in no time at all. Josh deposited it next to James, who was working at another pot. "You need…" Josh said, breathing heavily, "… to get started on the by-products."

James smiled and nodded, "You can count on Casey and I."

Josh sat down at the table and then Kyle proceeded to walk up to him. "Josh, can I ask you something?"

"Sure… what is it?" Josh asked.

Kyle thought about how he wanted to say it, and then made his request. "I want to trade Pokémon with you."

Josh blinked and then looked at his buddy. "What sort of trade… do you want?"

Kyle smiled and then said, "I want to have your Poochyena."

Josh blinked again, thought about it for a good minute or so, before he finally figured out the short-term. "Are you sure you don't just want to borrow it to help you tonight?"

Kyle snickered, "Of course not. I thought about it long and hard, and remembered that I'd wanted to have a Poochyena since we got here. But, I also thought it would be silly to catch one myself when you have one yourself."

Josh nodded lightly and then asked the most important question yet, "What are you going to offer me?"

Kyle's response was very quick in coming, "I thought about that, too. I know I'm likely to have some trouble adjusting, only because you and Poochyena have been friends for awhile, but I don't want to give you that trouble back. So, I'm willing to trade Koffing off, a relatively new find, in exchange for your Poochyena."

Josh pulled Poochyena out of his Poké Ball, and the little puppy began to whine a little bit, as if he knew the conversation which had gone on. Josh petted the little man and said, "Don't worry. You'll still get to see me. I'm not going anywhere. Now, do your best for Kyle, OK?"

Poochyena rubbed against Josh's arm for a minute as Kyle pulled out Koffing. "Now, I want you to be on your best behavior when you're around Josh, all right?"

Koffing responded to this request by spitting out a very tiny amount of gas. Kyle was quick to retreat his Pokémon.

As Josh did the same, he warned, "You'll likely have to show him your loving side if you want him to like you, Kyle. But, that shouldn't be hard." He smiled in a reassuring fashion toward his colleague.

Kyle nodded lightly, and then prepared to complete the trade in a far more impromptu way. Kyle said, "I now trade you my Koffing," while handing off the Poké Ball in his hand.

Josh responded, "And I give you my Poochyena. Take good care of it." He handed off the Poké Ball of his first catch in Hoenn.

The trade was complete, and Josh smiled, "Now do yourself a favor, Kyle. Go get some sleep!"

Kyle was very quick to acknowledge and obey this 'command'. He was praying that Poochyena would be able to keep him awake all night long.

Elsewhere in the kitchen, James was following a very specific recipe, tossing in portions of Nanab, Bluk, Razz, Wepear and Pinap Berries into pots along the cooktop. He then turned and yelled out, "How goes the Pokéblock production, Casey?"

Casey was standing near a blender, pushing the button repeatedly, and grumbling quietly to herself most of the time. "They're coming along fine!" After the previous day's debacle with the vacuum cleaner, and because of the fact that tomorrow was the big shipping day for the ranch, thus they needed a bit of extra manpower to finish the extra products.

James, meanwhile, was doing 3 different things at once. He was cleaning and preparing the berries for a farmer's market and direct selling, he was monitoring pots cooking up liquids for the two main by-products, and he was also finishing up some of the by-products with the assistance of Cacnea.

Cacnea looked quite happy as she stirred and completed final seasonings on the two products: Berry Juice, and Berry Jam.

Then, of course, they were bottled or canned and sent into refrigeration to await shipping the following morning.

Casey's Pokéblocks were not in the same boat as the two perishables. Instead, they were sent into a special container to await shipping.

Mark's dad came in about that time and made a request of Casey, seeing how good she was at making quality Pokéblocks. "Would you do me a huge favor, Casey, and crush some of those berries into powder? Make some good quality medicine out of that powder down in Slateport City."

Casey couldn't believe her luck; an excuse to take out some of her frustration and excess energy on some hapless berries for no good reason? That was like a dream come true. "Sure thing! I'll be more than happy to help!" She said, beaming.

Josh, still at the table, looked over at her and sweatdropped. ~Well, better them than me.~

Casey was taken over to the machine, and instructed on how to do it. She was slightly disappointed she couldn't do it with a mallet or a frying pan, but she was still quite happy nevertheless as she got to 'work'.

An hour later, both Ryo and Mark came in with their last batches of berries. The owner smiled. "Nice job!" he yelled in a very loud, yet satisfied manner.

At an attempt at some revenge, Josh asked, "Is there anything else we can do to help?"

Mark's dad thought about this as Ryo and Mark both looked at the gogglehead. He then said, "About all I can think of is to help out James in creating the Jams and Juices."

Despite the fact that it wasn't really labor-intensive, or maybe because of the fact that it wasn't, Josh wandered over and assisted Cacnea. Ryo and Mark were too tired at that moment to do anything.

-8 hours later, 9:00 PM-

The last of the jars and bottles were deposited in the refrigeration unit and it was locked up. At about this time, Kyle came out of the house, looking more refreshed than he had last night.

When he saw that Kyle was awake, Mark's father was quick to pull the trainer aside and looked at him very seriously. "We can't afford to have you wandering about tonight. If the thief comes by and steals these things tonight, it will be very bad."

Kyle pulled up a chair and sat it next to the unit. "Don't worry about a thing. I've got everything covered tonight." Josh smiled, knowing exactly what he was going to do.

Everyone went inside after a few more words of encouragement from Alan and Ryo. As soon as they were inside, Kyle released Poochyena, who was still quite sad about being traded. "Now, start hunting for thieves, Poochyena!" Kyle commanded.

The tiny puppy didn't react very well to this 'upstart' giving him commands, so he barked at Kyle, and then bit him in the arm.

"Ow," Kyle exclaimed as he shook off the injury.

Josh walked back out, suspecting exactly what he saw out there, Poochyena being a bad puppy. Josh scolded, "Now, now, Poochyena… I told you before, you've got to obey Kyle now."

Poochyena responded with a whine, causing Josh to groan before he knelt down before his former Pokémon. "Just because you've been traded doesn't mean that we're no longer friends, little buddy."

Poochyena tilted his head, interested in what Josh had to say all of a sudden. Kyle blinked, not expecting to hear this sort of talk come from the man who had been more of a loner than potentially anyone else in the entire Digidestined family before Murmuxmon interfered.

"All it means is that now you've got a chance to make a completely new friend, in Kyle. We're still friends, and always will be. But, just because you miss me doesn't mean you have to act like this. Act like you should, and not only will you make Kyle happy…" Josh emphasized this last point with a smile, "… but you'll make me very happy as well."

Poochyena thought about this for a minute or so, before finally, it barked happily. Josh smiled, and then stood up, nodding to Kyle. "He's all yours, pal." Josh also joked, "Don't screw it up."

Kyle then asked, just as Josh turned to go inside, "How did you know exactly what to say?"

Josh's response took a few moments to come out, but when it did, it was very simple. "That's easy. I've had a lot of practice in dealing with… inter-species relationships. After all, Agumon's been with my family for quite some time before I was 'discovered'." He then walked inside, leaving Kyle even more confused than before.

He quickly shrugged it off and sent Poochyena to scan the fields, like before.

-4 hours later, around 1:00 AM-

Kyle had since taken a little bit of rest during the long night, his body still not quite used to the idea of being nocturnal.

Suddenly, though, the silence of the night was pierced violently by the sounds of Poochyena barking like mad at something. Kyle woke up with a start, and then immediately called forth Toaster from her Poké Ball.

A smart idea, as it turned out, for a moment later, a net shot out from the shadows directly at Kyle. Toaster burned it up, though, by using Ember, smirking toward the shadows.

Kyle demanded, "Come out of those shadows and show your face!"

A laugh came from the shadows in the orchard and replied, "I was hoping to get away without anyone seeing my face. But, you've left me no choice, little boy!"

A female figure leapt from the darkness and into the light near the refrigerator. She was clearly wearing a Team Aqua uniform, and looked very confident of herself.

Toaster got into a typical defensive fighting stance, while Kyle stood up from his chair. "Who are you?"

The Aqua member smirked and said, "My name is of no importance to you."

Kyle then demanded, "What exactly are you doing robbing a place like this?"

"That answer is rather simple. Berries are the harvest of the land, yet we seek to destroy it. Therefore, they must be destroyed as well." The woman said with a twisted smile painted across her face.

Kyle looked completely puzzled by her logic. "That makes absolutely no sense! Water-based Pokémon love berries too!"

As she prepared to send out a Poké Ball, she smirked. "We know that, but… sacrifices must be made for the greater good." As she threw out a Ball, she suddenly got a nasty surprise, as Poochyena chomped down on her rear end.

"Ack!" she yelped as Poochyena growled. "You'll pay for that!" She tossed out her Poké Ball and released a powerful Crawdaunt.

Kyle blinked and then pulled out his Pokédex. "What is that?"

"Crawdaunt, the Rogue Pokémon. Crawdaunt has an extremely violent nature that compels it to challenge other living things to battle. Other life-forms refuse to live in ponds inhabited by this Pokémon, making them desolate places."

Toaster took a different stance, ready to counter any move the opponent might make.

Inside the house, Alan was once again simultaneously cursing and blessing his sensitive hearing as he struggled to get out without waking everyone else up.

Back outside, the Aqua thief yelled, "Use Bubble Beam, Crawdaunt!" Her Pokémon obeyed, sending out a large stream of tiny bubbles directly at Toaster.

Without even needing a command, Toaster launched herself into mid-air at the last moment, avoiding the attack.

Crawdaunt's attack shot harmlessly toward the trees, and in fact watered them, reducing the amount of work the next day.

The lady growled loudly, but she hadn't seen anything yet. Kyle yelled out, "Toaster, use Double Kick now!" Toaster shot down from the air at high-speed and proceeded to send Crawdaunt flying with the first kick. Then, she shot after it for the second strike.

"Crawdaunt, counter with Bubble Beam!" the trainer commanded of her Pokémon. The creature turned itself around before launching out another set of beams from its pincers, impacting Toaster directly.

She fell down to the ground and skidded hard. Kyle immediately ran into the orchard after his Pokémon.

At this time, Poochyena was finally dislodged from the woman's behind, and quickly ran toward the battle. The Aqua person was about to launch another command, but her command was muffled by something.

Inside the orchard, Crawdaunt approached Toaster, looking very menacing. Toaster was struggling to get up, trying desperately to get dry from the battering she took a moment ago.

Crawdaunt lifted its claws and opened them up, holding them there dramatically for a moment before they came down quickly, aiming to clamp down on Toaster.

Kyle yelled out, "Toaster!" afraid for his partner. But, as it turned out, he didn't need to worry at all.

A well-placed Tackle sent Crawdaunt on its side as Kyle put on a look of surprise. A proud bark later told him exactly what he needed to know. "Poochyena!" he called out, very happy.

Crawdaunt glared at the plucky pup, but, as it turned out, he was the least of its problems. Toaster recovered and then launched Crawdaunt into mid-air again, this time leaping into air and sending it back to the ground, creating a small crater between the trees.

Crawdaunt's eyes were spirals, indicating a knock-out. Kyle tried to hold in his emotions, but he eventually yelled out, "We did it!"

At the edge of the orchard, Alan was seen tying up the knocked out Aqua grunt. After he finished, he swept his hands, satisfied with the conclusion. "Who would have guessed they were involved with something like this?" He walked back inside and snickered. "Kyle doesn't need to know I was involved."

About a minute later, Kyle was seen emerging from the woods, holding Crawdaunt, and with Toaster and Poochyena alongside him. He was about to say something clever, but he saw the Aqua lady knocked out and restrained. He sweatdropped, but he shook his head. "Well, it doesn't matter, now does it?"

Poochyena and Toaster both make affirmative noises. Crawdaunt is retreated into its Poké Ball, followed shortly by Kyle's two friends, before he finally went back into position.

-The next morning, 8 AM-

Mark's father walked out to the sight of a Jenny on a motorbike taking away a lady in a strange costume, and blinked. Officer Jenny turned to him and smiled, "Don't worry. We'll make sure she doesn't bother you anymore!"

The motorbike drove off with the criminal on it pretty quickly. Mark's pop blinked, and then walked around to the unit, to find Kyle still wide awake in front of it. Kyle smiled and waved, "Good morning. Ready to ship out these goods?"

The farmer blinked a few times, before he nodded. "Great job! You did well, Kyle!"

Kyle beamed and nodded, "Thank you, sir."

Just 20 minutes later, the first of several freight trucks drove up to the ranch as the rest of the Digidestined, as well as James walked out, ready to assist with the loading of the trucks.

Jars of jelly, bottles of juice and bags of berries were loaded with the greatest of care. After all, they were fairly easy to screw up through the shipping process. Kyle was permitted to take a nap, but he was encouraged by Josh not to take too long, since they were not going to be there all day today.

-4 hours later-

The last of the trucks departed the ranch, and everyone who was outside wiped their brows at about the same time. "Phew… that's really hard work!" Ryo remarked aloud.

"And I thought you were chiding me for complaining yesterday," Josh pointed out.

Alan stepped in and added, "I think he was being sarcastic, Josh." He sweatdropped, and then everyone had a good laugh at Josh's expense.

-A further 2 hours later-

Kyle walked out just in time to see Mark shaking the hands of everyone, and thanking them for their hard work. His father was handing off some money to everyone as well. Not a lot of money, mind you. But, 3,000 Poké meant that no one was flat broke anymore.

When Kyle approached the group, Mark smiled, "Here's the big hero!"

Kyle blushed lightly and said, "Oh, come on. I didn't do any more than anyone else did."

Mark's father had a completely different opinion on the matter. "You saved this farm from a disaster! And that's no lie."

Kyle's cheeks turned an even deeper red and he rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Thank you, sir."

The two co-owners looked at each other and nodded before handing off a much larger sum of money than anyone else had gotten. Both of them smiled at Kyle's general look of surprise.

"Isn't this a bit much?" Kyle asked in pure curiosity.

Mark shook his head, "Not in comparison to what you did." The amount of money was 33,000 Poké, a good amount of funds to keep himself afloat for quite awhile.

-10 minutes later-

The Digidestined waved to the nice people as they walked out of the gate, and back onto the road toward Fallarbor Town. At about this time, though, Kyle reached for his money, took out the 3,000 Poké he felt he'd earned by himself, and then split the remaining 30,000 evenly before trying to hand them to everyone.

"Keep it, you earned it." Josh insisted a few times.

Kyle's insistence was equally adamant, "No, I didn't. At least, not completely by myself… since I don't know who helped me, the best way to do it is to give everyone five grand."

It took another 4 minutes of arguments before everyone accepted Kyle's 'gift', augmenting everyone's earnings to a very nice 8,000 Poké. Alan remarked, "Well, now we should have enough money to get by for awhile."

Casey then added, "But, if we see something else, it might not hurt to look." A collective group groan followed as everyone asked one question.

"Can't we rest first?"

Narrator: And so, our heroes pull through another crisis and root out another effect of the evils of Team Aqua. But, with the shadow of Mount Chimney looming large, will anyone be ready for the competition ahead? And how will things go at the next conference? The answer might be found in the skies above…

-Meanwhile…-

A menacing shadow loomed over Mossdeep Island as a very large gray Pokémon flew overhead toward the mainland. The people of the island were all found murmuring to one another about what the heck kind of Pokémon that was.

If Ryo had been there, he would have recognized it immediately, though, as well as its familiar cargo.

"I'm coming for you, sweetie!" a familiar, yet ominous voice rang out over the eastern Hoenn seaboard.

Next Time: The ash which falls from Mount Chimney do nothing for the plant life, but it does allow a unique industry not found anywhere else in the known world. How will the Digidestined take advantage, and who is on a collision course with the HoennDestined? Find out soon on Digicross Advanced!


	13. RoD 13: Spinda the Bottle

Narrator: Today, we find our heroes traveling along the scenic Route 113 heading toward their next conference in Fallarbor Town. The route itself wasn't scenic, due to the fact that almost everything was covered in a layer of gray. However, it was useful because of the phenomenon which created the blanket. Something one man took great advantage of…

Digicross Advanced Episode 43: "Spinda the Bottle"

Episode Written by Josh Johannesen

It had been a couple of days since the team had left behind Razz Orchard and continued their journey west toward Fallarbor.

The route itself was relatively peaceful, with very few people daring to stay here for long periods of time. And that wasn't because of the all-gray landscape. But, rather, due to the reason for the aforementioned landscape.

The route was constantly bathed in things which, to the naked eye, looked a lot like snow. But, it wasn't. Instead, it was a constant shower of ashes from Mount Chimney to the south which kept this place quite gloomy.

The results of this unique environment were profound. Very few Pokémon could live in this environment constantly around the clock, limiting the possibilities for capture opportunities. Although, unlike Sandstorm Desert, the ash appeared to have no immediate effect on battles.

Another was pretty much the same as the first; no human could live in this environment constantly, because one would almost invariably end up taking in ash with each breath, hence there was no civilization along this route.

The third was that the continuous ash was quite pretty to look at, and hence it was a fairly popular place to train on occasion.

The last effect it had, aside from the constant covering of everything, was the smell. Everything around smelled like someone was smoking, even though it wasn't someone, but something.

Josh shook his head and thought to himself, ~I thought I'd gotten away from that crummy smell forever…~ Clearly, he was thinking about the smells of smoking he and his siblings used to have to be around in times of great stress.

Alan looked out onto the horizon and sighed, "Still got a long way to go to reach Fallarbor."

Kyle groaned and responded, "How many more days do you think we'll be out here?"

James was a bit more upbeat than some of the others were at that time. "Oh, cheer up, guys. We've gotta be getting close to there by now."

Ryo turned to their new ally and added, "We've only got to keep marching ahead, and we'll get there."

Still, it was tough going, when there appeared to be no end in sight. And there was very little sun above to cheer oneself up.

So it was that there was a great deal of excitement running through the Digidestined party when they saw a house up ahead. "Finally, we must be there!" Casey exclaimed, some of her trademark energy coming back to her.

Ryo looked around, and began to shake his head. "I don't think we are… at least, not yet."

James asked, "What makes you say that?"

Ryo's response was short, but sweet. "There aren't any other houses around here, so this must belong to someone who is living out here."

Alan was looking at a sign just in front of the house and nodded lightly, "Or, at the very least, trying to make a living out here." He pointed to the sign a moment later.

Everyone came around to read it. "Glass items prepared while you wait. All you need is ash."

Josh looked completely baffled by the implications of the sign. "Wait, you mean somebody decided it would be a good idea to live out here and try to gather this stuff?"

"Think about it, Josh. Ash is a nearly limitless resource in a place like this. Why not try to create some kind of industry out here?" Alan pointed out in a calm manner.

Josh shook his head lightly, still confused.

Kyle asked the most obvious question, "Why don't we just go inside and see what happens?"

No one could really argue with his point, so they trudged inside. Almost immediately after stepping foot inside the hut, a young man zoomed over to them, and proceeded to dust them off, gathering any lingering debris into a sort of bag.

Needless to say, such an act caught them off-guard. A voice spoke from over by a fire, "That's quite enough of that, huff-puff. You'll end up scaring off our visitors."

The man bowed to the other one at the fire, "My apologies, sir." He then ran back to his position by the fire and waited.

Still completely shell-shocked by the experience of being dusted off by someone else, the party began to approach. "Sorry about that. My apprentice can sometimes be a bit… over-anxious, shall we say?"

Alan would be the first to speak after an awkward pause. "It's quite all right; we were just curious about this shop and what it could do."

The main man's face lit up like a Christmas tree, "Oh! You're interested in my glassware? Fantastic, huff-puff!"

Kyle was the next to ask, "How are we supposed to ask you to create some items for us? It said on the sign that all we need is ash."

The glass-maker snapped his fingers, and a second apprentice, not surprisingly also male, came out holding some sacks made out of fine-mesh burlap. "Use these Soot Sacks," the glass-maker said. "They will help you gather the ash material outside. Once you reach certain levels of ash, I can use it to create special glass items you can only get here, huff-puff!"

Josh sweatdropped, and then noted, mostly to himself, "He sounds like one of those people in Animal Crossing." (Animal Crossing is copyright Nintendo, and I don't own that either, because otherwise I'd be rich. Not sure this was entirely necessary. –ed)

Because Kyle had lived in the Human World as well, he understood the reference immediately and sweatdropped. Poké-World natives Alan, Casey, James and Ryo all scratched their heads in confusion.

In either case, though, this job seemed much easier than their last one at Razz Orchard. So, with a small burst of Casey-type energy, "Let's do this!" they would go out with the express purpose of getting the ash.

As it turned out, the work itself wasn't at all intensive. After all, when there was a steady stream falling from the ground, and a cloud blew upwards every time a bush was disturbed, the six sacks began to slowly fill up with the volcanic debris.

"Hey, you're right! This is really easy! Almost as easy as digging a pit trap!" A group sweatdrop would emerge from this comment by James. He added, "Notice I didn't say digging a good pit trap."

Everybody bought that and continued to work. There was the occasional Pokémon which came out to "play" with the trainers, but most were easily defeated with a good combination attack. Even the local Skarmory were having their problems against Noble or Elekid.

And, within a quarter of an hour, the six of them had a good amount of material. Alan offered, "Let's gather all of it into one sack, and have someone go inside and see what this will get us."

Like before, there was little reason to argue, so it was decided that Alan would be the person to deliver the soot to the glass-maker. He sweatdropped lightly and added, "That isn't quite what I meant."

But, with a bit of encouragement, Alan sighed and went inside again.

The glass-maker was blowing into some molds and working on some minor items of little interest to them, like small glass figurines. Alan walked in and the man looked up. "Back so soon, huff-puff?"

Alan nodded and showed him the contents of his bag. "Ooh! That's a nice big amount of ash! I can probably make a flute or two from that."

Alan blinked, and then produced the flute he'd procured awhile back. "You mean like this one?"

"Oh, no, no," the glass-maker replied with the shake of his head. "The flutes I make create specific harmonics… and can be used to create certain mind-altering effects on all Pokémon."

Alan raised his eyebrow and asked, "Nothing that could be used by evil forces, right?"

Another shake of the head came from the proud man. "Oh, no! Of course not! You see… one of them can be used to wake sleeping Pokémon, another to snap one out of unnatural infatuation, and yet another to snap one out of confusion. There are even ones which can attract… or repel… wild Pokémon."

Alan whistled lightly, "Pretty impressive line-up." The glass-maker beamed again.

"So… what'll ya have?" he asked again.

Alan's response was pretty simple, "Give me the one which is the easiest to make."

The glass-man looked at the contents of Alan's Soot Sack more closely, and then smiled, "There's enough here for that. Give me some time, and I'll give you a Blue Flute."

Alan laid back in the back of the cabin, and nodded. "Give me a chance to rest a little bit, huh?"

The apprentices admitted, "It's what we do most of the time while the boss works."

Meanwhile, outside, the gathering of ash was still going quite well. Even without the extra efforts from Alan, taking in the tiny grains was exceptionally easy.

"What do you think we can make from this stuff?" Josh asked of his comrades.

"Some very nice things we can sell off in Fallarbor, presumably," Kyle responded.

Casey couldn't help but smile at the prospect of having a little more money to take care of their Pokémon. "All we gotta do is keep gathering this stuff!"

The constant stream of ash created a cover which made this place unnaturally cold, but it also shielded them from anyone above them discovering their position, like the Rockets' surveillance satellite.

Unfortunately, it didn't stop a screeching noise from coming in from above. Ryo froze the moment he heard it. Everyone else simply looked into the sky. "What was that?" James asked, a small bit of fear creeping into his voice.

Casey, looking up as well, asked, "Maybe it's some kind of wild Pokémon?"

Ryo shook his head in response, but didn't say a word.

Seeing the reaction on his face, Josh predicted, "Maybe it's some trainer from one of our enemies."

Ryo shook his head again.

Kyle then asked, "Then who is it?"

Ryo's response was plain and simple, "It's Caryl."

Those two words struck fear into the hearts of four out of the five trainers standing out there. James was generally clueless about the chaos which she could bring to any party… at least at the moment he was.

The wings continued to flap, and actually started to fade away to the west. A collective sigh of relief went through all of them. That is, until Ryo made what should have been a pretty easy observation. "She's going to come back this direction when she sees we haven't made it to Fallarbor yet."

Immediately, Kyle asked, "Should we get out of here and forget all about the Conference?"

Casey replied, "No way! We're not going to let someone like her scare us off, are we?"

After another awkward silence, Josh asked, "Did you forget all about what she did to the two of us before?"

"Oh, relax already! Did you forget we've got Alan here? He wouldn't let any of that garbage from before happen again!"

Inside the cabin, Alan sneezed and sighed, "Someone's talking about me, I just know it."

James' suggestion was as simple as could be, "We need to just keep going, and continue doing what we were doing before. There's no point in letting ourselves get bent out of shape."

And so, that's just what they did. For the next two hours, things were fine and dandy, as they gathered more ash, handing it off from time to time and sending someone inside to drop off more ashes.

Alan came back out after the Blue Flute was done, and showed off the impeccable work to everyone, creating a lot of oohs and ahhs.

Back inside, it was finally clear how the glass-maker made his money. His mold actually created 2 Blue Flutes. One for the customer, and one for himself to sell to make some money on the side.

Over the course of those two hours, a couple of additional glass items were made, consisting entirely of flutes, since they were pretty easy to make.

"Can't believe I managed to stuff up my aim…" a voice mused as it approached from the west.

Kyle looked at Ryo and observed, "Last chance to run out of here."

Ryo shook his head. "If I try to run, it'll only make things worse. I need to face her like a man."

As a young girl came over the hill, she pointed at Ryo and said, "At last! I found you blokes!"

Alan facepalmed and said, "Great… that's just freakin' great…"

"I'm not a bloke!" Casey told the young woman.

Josh sweatdropped and observed, "You've got a new look, don't you, Caryl?"

Caryl smiled and turned around like a model would do on a runway, despite the fact that her new look was plain to see from the front side. She had since received a new red bandanna which she wore on her forehead. And above that, much to Ryo's chagrin, a pair of goggles.

"Why did you have to go and pick up that habit?" Ryo asked of his girlfriend.

"And just why wouldn't I? They're kapai!" Caryl exclaimed, pretty happy with her new look, no matter what anyone else thought.

She saw that Josh and Kyle had a similar look, at least to the tune of the gogglehead, and smiled. "They get it, even if you guys don't."

Alan muttered to himself, 'Maybe I don't want to get it…'

Caryl then ran up to Ryo, grabbed him by the arm, and began to pull him away from the group. "Come on, let's go have some fun together!"

Alan and Casey looked at one another and snickered, imagery dancing in their minds about what that meant.

Somehow, James had gone completely unnoticed by Caryl, and continued to pack in ash.

-10 minutes later, about a quarter-mile east of the Ash House-

Ryo was trying to pull away from Caryl's iron grip, and said, "I think we're far enough away now."

Caryl took another few steps before she pouted lightly and let him go. "Don't tell me you're sick of having me around…"

Ryo immediately felt guilty and swooped around to Caryl's front side. "No, no… I'm not sick of having you around. It's just that…"

Caryl smiled and exclaimed, "Great! Then you won't mind helping me out a little bit!"

Ryo sweatdropped again, and then he asked, "How exactly can I help you out?"

"Simple! I'd heard from some of the people back in Kanto about a cute little Pokémon you can help me catch before we head for the Conference!"

Ryo scanned his memory for the three species of Pokémon he'd seen while they were out on this route. Spinda, Slugma and Skarmory; none of which he would classify as cute.

That would explain the next question to come rumbling out of Ryo's piehole. "Excuse me for saying so, Caryl, but if you'd wanted a Pokémon from elsewhere in Hoenn, why didn't you catch it before you came here?"

Caryl raised an eyebrow and asked, "And who said that what I wanted to catch isn't to be found here?"

"Because I've seen the native Pokémon, and I'm not sure I'd call any of them cute, that's all." Ryo said succinctly.

Caryl shook her head, "Then you must not have looked closely enough. What I want… is a Spinda."

Ryo scratched his own head, and looked confused. "And… just what is so cute about that creature?"

"What's not to love? Pandas are cute anyway, but tiny pandas which are spotted and have swirling eyes? That's really cute!" Caryl gushed, sounding quite happy with the prospect.

Ryo simply shook his head and sighed. "Once you get an idea in your head, there's no stopping you, is there?"

A big grin came over Caryl's face as she ran into the nearby grass to begin exploring. Ryo took the opportunity to continue gathering ash for later.

-Back at the Glass House-

Everyone had gone inside to gather together their ash to presumably create some more Flutes. But, after looking at the combined total, the glass-maker whistled. "I think there's enough here to create some nice furniture."

Josh raised his eyebrow and asked, "Glass furniture?"

A smile came out and he said, "Of course! I can make a nice desk, or a nice chair. They're so popular, because they're so neutral, and can be attractive to anyone."

Alan joked, "Maybe Ryo can use those to satiate Caryl."

Everyone laughed at that remark, and decided that something like this wouldn't be a bad idea to begin with. James concluded the argument with, "It couldn't hurt, given how much the rest of you guys seem to fear her."

Another laugh later, and they decided to watch the man do his work.

-Outside-

Ryo followed an exuberant Caryl who was yelling out, "Come out, Spinda! Come out and play!"

He shook his head and looked upward. "I don't think this is working very well…"

Caryl looked at Ryo, her enthusiasm not even slightly dampened. "It'll work before too long! You'll see."

Ryo sighed and replied, "You wouldn't think that anyone would be tempted by that screaming…"

Within a period of just five minutes, one single Spinda, with spots on its ears, came stumbling out of the underbrush.

Caryl smirked and looked at her boyfriend, "Told ya so."

Ryo facepalmed and shook his head. ~It's a good thing she decided to drag me away, or I'd be really embarrassed around Alan and James.~

Caryl pulled out a Poké Ball and yelled out, "Go for it, Aerodactyl!" The giant ancient bird flew out with a screech. Spinda was instantly frightened, as one might expect a tiny panda to be facing a gigantic bird.

Surprisingly, though, Spinda fired out a Psybeam against the rocky Pokémon. Caryl yelled out, "Aerodactyl, dodge it now!" The ancient one screeched and flew upward.

Spinda wasn't deterred quite so easily, though, and aimed further upward until it finally hit. Caryl looked worried about Spinda's tenacity… until she saw that the attack had barely any effect on her Pokémon.

Ryo sweatdropped and asked, "Did you know your Aerodactyl was so strong?"

"I had a feeling, but I wanted to be safe. No sense getting your knickers in a bunch, eh?" Caryl responded.

Spinda's response to the sudden adversity was to try and run away. Aerodactyl called out to its distracted master.

Caryl saw it running away, and frowned. "Oh, no you don't. Aerodactyl, grab it now!"

Ryo watched as Aerodactyl swooped down from the skies, just as it might have in ancient times, and grabbed the poor little panda.

"Spinda! Spinda!" the little Pokémon cried as it tried to get free; a very difficult task for one so small against one so big.

Caryl smirked and said, "That's the ticket! Now…" she pulled out one Poké Ball from her pack and then yelled out in a very clichéd manner, "Go, Poké Ball!"

The Ball flew true before colliding with the back of Spinda's head, causing the Pokémon to disappear into the Ball. It fell to the ground, and began to shake, rattle and roll.

Unfortunately for her, the Ball busted wide open, and Spinda came back out again, moving about with the same confusing rhythm as before.

Caryl glared at the little creature, then turned to Ryo. "Well, don't just stand there! Do something!"

Ryo shook his head and then called out Sableye, which was a bit of an unusual pick. But, as usual, Ryo knew exactly what he was doing. "Use Fake Out now!"

Sableye disappeared, then appeared again right in front of Spinda, and created a very loud noise. "Spinda!" the panda cried as it panicked and jumped backward. Unfortunately for it, Spinda didn't have its feet underneath it when it landed, and so it fell down, causing more damage.

Ryo didn't stop there, though, calling out, "Sableye, send it airborne! Use Faint Attack now!"

The dark ghost disappeared again, and then appeared right underneath Spinda, and the panda went flying, spinning end over end. Its response was to launch another Psybeam attack.

But, Sableye was unaffected by the maneuver, following another order from her partner. "Use Fury Swipes now!" the ghost ran under Spinda, and as it came down, she launched it back up by swiping at whatever part of the body was convenient. The juggling act went for 4 total swipes before Spinda fell back to earth.

Caryl smiled and looked to her boyfriend "That was kapai, Ryo!" A gentle smile came from the young man. Caryl reached for a second Poké Ball and threw it out. "Go!" she said very enthusiastically.

For the second time, Spinda was forced into a Ball, and fought against it the best it could. But, the additional weakening from Sableye's attacks were enough to allow Caryl to get lucky and capture the little guy.

Caryl squealed in delight, and then grabbed the Ball. Doing her best Ash Ketchum impression, she yelled out, "I caught a Spinda!"

Ryo sweatdropped and mumbled to himself, 'You caught a Spinda, huh…?'

Caryl eyed her boyfriend and asked, "Did you say something?"

Ryo shook his head quickly, "No, no. Of course not."

Sableye looked at her trainer and shook her head. ~He's still whipped…~

-20 minutes later, Glass House-

The glass-maker actually had to call for help from his apprentices, because putting together glass furniture was hard work, as one might imagine it would be. The five trainers sat at the far end of the house, remaining quiet as the 3 people worked in tandem, simultaneously blowing and fitting pieces of glass together.

"I don't envy their work," Kyle observed.

"I think I could possibly learn to do the Flute work, but that is really hard. Maybe with Fire Sword…" Alan mused, watching closely.

"I don't think I could do that at all," Josh stated, very matter-of-fact.

Casey and James agreed with Josh wholeheartedly.

Suddenly, the door burst open and in walked Caryl and Ryo, both covered in a layer of ash. Alan smirked and asked, "So, did you two have fun?" This merited a light smack on the back of the head from Ryo.

Caryl, oblivious to the double entendre, responded, "You bet we did! Ryo gave it heaps, and helped me catch a Spinda!" Ryo smiled lightly, knowing exactly what Caryl meant.

While the others tried to decipher exactly what Caryl had said, she suddenly realized what had come out of her mouth, and yelled, "It's happening again. I'm becoming a Kiwi!"

"What exactly do you expect? You live someplace long enough; you're going to start learning the local culture." Alan observed.

Caryl would have made a witty retort to that comment, except for the fact that her wandering eyes settled upon the glass table being made there, "Oooh. That's quite pretty."

"That would be the reason why I call it the Pretty Desk." The glass-maker said with a hint of pride in his voice.

Caryl turned back to the rest of the team and asked, doing her best impression of puppy-dog eyes. "Can I have this for my bedroom, please?"

Already knowing the answer to the question, Kyle razzed her just a little bit. "I don't know… how on earth are you going to get that all the way back to Wellington?"

"I don't know! I'll figure out a way! I always do!" Caryl insisted strongly.

Everyone thought about it for a minute, as Caryl continued to stand in front of them, looking as sweet as she could.

Eventually, Casey said, "Oh… I guess you can have it."

Caryl jumped into the air, quite thrilled, as Ryo breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Thank goodness for that…"

The glass-maker added one more observation to the board, "It will take several more hours to finish entirely. And then if you want chairs to go with it…"

Caryl didn't need to hear any more, stealing Ryo's Soot Sack. "You need more of this, right? I'll go get it now!" She ran out the door, leaving every person in there sweatdropping.

Alan thought to himself, head shaking, ~I don't know how on earth he puts up with her…~

Kendrix remarked from inside her Poké Ball, :You mean like what you've done with Casey?:

Alan blushed lightly, slightly embarrassed by Kendrix's blunt observation.

Josh asked, "About how long do you need?"

Doing the best mental arithmetic one could while holding up a pane of glass, the man answered, "They should be done in just a couple of days, huff-puff!"

Kyle looked at his calendar and nodded lightly. "That's fine, then. Fallarbor Conference isn't set to begin for a few more days anyway."

James added, "It would be nice to get a little bit more rest before things get intense again."

"And they will," Alan observed.

So it was decided that they should stay just a couple days more, while Caryl ran around trying to gather the necessary ash to complete the task at hand.

-2 days later, 10:00 AM-

The set of furniture was finally completed, and the three glass-workers looked plumb-tired. "It's… all… done, huff-puff." The head glass-man said, clearly still tired from all the work.

Caryl grinned, looking at the beautiful glass furniture. Josh was still marveling at how mere volcanic ash could be used to make something like this.

"But, that still leaves the question of how you're going to get this home." Ryo observed.

Caryl put her hand on her chin and thought out loud. "Can't carry it myself; too heavy for me… couldn't really ask Aerodactyl to carry it, 'cause if it falls off…" She imitated glass breaking to drive home the point.

One of the apprentices then butted in, asking, "Why don't you just use our delivery service?"

The boss snapped his fingers and nodded. "That's right! She can do that!"

Caryl asked, now very curious, "Can you deliver to Kanto, say… around Pallet Town?"

After a brief moment to think, a quick nod came from the man. "I don't see why not. We hire a local delivery service out of Fallarbor Town. They should be able to take it easily to Slateport City, assuming that the road leading through Mauville has been reopened after the disaster there."

Josh, Alan, Kyle, Ryo and Casey looked at one another, remembering the total destruction there. James could only really remember the incident when Kyle became a lot less like himself.

"And then, after that, a boat should be able to take it to Pallet very easily. Of course, it could take a couple of weeks."

Caryl waved that off with no problem at all. "I've got loads of time before the hols are over!" She mentally smacked herself for spitting out yet more Kiwi-speak.

"Great! Then we'll do it that way and make things easy on all of us, huff-puff!" The man spoke, exuding great confidence that this would work.

-30 minutes later-

After eating some breakfast in the house, the "least" the man could do after producing such a volume of business, everyone walked outside.

"Feel free to come back any time! And bring some more ash next time! That was fun!" The glass-man stated.

"Sure thing!" Caryl said with a big smile on her face.

Everyone waved good-bye to their new friends from inside one of the strangest places they had been to since the Trick House.

As usual, Caryl ran ahead and said, "Come on! Fallarbor's only a couple miles from here!"

A sigh of relief swept through all six trainers as they followed behind Caryl's example.

Narrator: And so, Caryl returned and caught herself a Spinda… sort of. And a lot of new moneymakers have been added to our heroes' packs. With Fallarbor Town just over the horizon, what kinds of surprises await Kyle and Caryl at the next conference? The answers wait just around the bend…

-Meanwhile…-

Jessie and Weavile continued to walk through the tunnels which they had fallen into days ago. "How much further is it?" Jessie asked, her voice sounding very tired.

"I don't know, Jess. Dis place is quite the tunnel." Weavile responded, equally as tired.

Neither of them could figure out exactly why they were tired, though. They had taken a decent stock of food with them from Rocket HQ, in case something did happen to them. But, it didn't seem to matter whether they went to sleep, or whether they ate. They were eternally tired.

"We need to find the exit, and soon. Otherwise, we might not survive to get revenge on that traitor…" Jessie mused.

Next Time: Caryl plots some mischief that goes horribly wrong as the HoennDestined await the start of Fallarbor Conference. And a call home produces some significant worry for Josh's family. What will be the consequences of these events, and what will happen to Jessie and Weavile? Find out on the next episode of Digicross Advanced!


	14. RoD 14: The Day of Burning

Narrator: Today, as the sun finally begins to shine a few precious beams from the clouds above, our heroes finally reach Fallarbor Town, site of the Fallarbor Conference, Kyle and Caryl's next challenge. But, sometimes, the biggest challenge facing a team can come from within, as events were about to prove…

Digicross Advanced Episode 44: "The Day of Burning"

Episode Co-Written by Josh Johannesen and Alan Wilkinson

The signs of life were beginning to show themselves as the Destined continued to the west. The ashen snow began to lighten in intensity, until it stopped completely. And, there were some trees which didn't have any ash on them at all.

But, it would be Kyle who would spot the biggest sign of all. "Look up there!" He pointed to the sky, which was no longer completely covered with clouds. Instead, there were some patches where the clouds were broken up, and as a result of this, a few precious beams of sunlight hit the settlement from above.

"We're here!" The over-enthusiastic Caryl observed; as if the larger concentration of buildings and people, not to mention the Pokémon Center and Poké Mart weren't enough to indicate that they had, indeed, arrived.

Ryo turned to Josh and said, "Now, tonight…"

Before Ryo could even finish his thought, Josh nodded. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, Ryo… I'll remember to call Mom before I go to bed."

Everyone smiled a bit and James asked the obvious question, "How many days do we have before Fallarbor Conference begins?"

Kyle looked at his calendar and nodded a bit. "We've actually arrived a couple days early. It starts on Friday."

Casey grinned. "That's great news! We might be able to relax just a little bit while we're here!"

"Good, because I think we all need a rest after all the hard work we've done over the past week…" James complained.

Alan watched Caryl continue on ahead of them, ~Good riddance, even if it is only temporary.~ He then said, "The first thing we ought to do is sell off our extras from the Glass House."

Everyone agreed on this point, because there really wasn't much argument to make, so they went off to the nearby Mart to make some cash.

Unfortunately, the glass items weren't worth that much, 150 to 250 Poké each. Still, though, it wasn't bad, given that Caryl's overdone run earlier in the week had generated quite a few to sell.

The end result of all the sales was around 6,000 Poké, which was very easy to split, each one garnering 1,000. Of course, it wasn't as much as it was with Razz Orchard, but then, they hadn't been doing hard labor for 2 days to obtain it, either.

"It's nice to have some money again," Ryo said.

Casey concurred with the point, "Alan's a nice guy and all, but I know I don't want to feel like I'm mooching off of him."

"And just who ever said that I minded the mooching, huh?" Alan retorted. "Someone's gotta make the cash around here. But if you guys really wanna help, catch something that knows Pick Up."

The point made, it was Kyle who made the next decision. "Who cares? We should get stocked up, and then find a place to spend the night."

After a short stint in the Mart, gathering everything from Tools for use, to Food for… well, eating, it was off to the local Pokémon Center, which was the easiest place to get holed up for a night. After all, Nurse Joy didn't mind putting up the occasional group of trainers without another place to stay.

-Later that night…-

Josh was seen dialing one of the two videophones in the Center, with Ryo standing out of the picture, but not so far away that he couldn't hear anything. After all, he half-expected to be pulled into Josh's conversation with his Mom, Gail.

Far away, on Cinnabar Island, the last thing Gail was expecting at that moment was a phone call to come in. So, she was surprised when it rang. "Hello?"

"Hi, Mom. It's me," Josh said on the other end.

"Josh?" a relieved Gail said, having heard some of the news from Professor Oak earlier that day.

Josh nodded, though she couldn't see it, and smiled. "Yeah, it's me."

Gail admitted, "I've been worried sick about you ever since I heard from Professor Oak earlier today. Said he'd heard from his grandson about Murmuxmon being over there?"

Josh sighed and then nodded again. "That's right. He's found his way over here somehow or another."

"But, I thought Digimon couldn't survive over there." Gail said, a hint of confusion in her voice.

"Yeah… but, Murmuxmon is feeding off the darkness of one of the others who dragged him over here, I would guess. We both remember…"

Gail could do nothing but sigh, remembering all too well what had happened before.

"But, I wouldn't get too worried yet. His activities are quite limited in their scope for the time being, so that at least buys us some additional time." Josh observed.

"That doesn't exactly fill me with a ton of confidence. You sure you can handle all of this without Agumon's help?" Gail asked rather bluntly.

Josh shook his head, "I don't know about that. But, for now, I don't exactly have a choice. He wouldn't last too long on this side of the ocean. Something for Izzy to figure out, I guess."

Gail was silent for a good 30 seconds before she said, "I don't think we can come out there and help you, either."

"It's that exact reason that we just mentioned a moment ago, the fact that Digimon can't survive too well over here in the Digital void, that I don't want you guys coming over here. You've got your tasks to do, and so have I." Josh said in a very confident voice.

"But, what if we were…" Gail was interrupted in her thought by Josh.

"I don't want you to send any of the others over here, either. I know very well that when this news gets out, there will be some who want to jump on a plane and get over here. But, for them, school takes priority. I don't want them throwing themselves in the line of fire when there's little chance for survival without a Pokémon."

Gail sighed again, but before she could say something else, Josh added, "Besides, I've got a support team, an increasingly large support team around me who can help in case things get hairy. So, relax. Nothing bad is going to happen."

As if on cue, Gail asked, "Is Ryo there?"

Ryo stepped up and stated, "I'm here."

Gail smiled and then asked, "Could you please make sure to look after him, just as you've done before now?"

Ryo nodded lightly, "I will, ma'am. I wouldn't dream of letting anything bad happen to him."

Gail smiled and added, "Good. Then I'll trust his well-being to you."

At the last moment, Ryo thought of something he wanted to add as well. "If you get the chance, would you say hi to Aunt Prima for me? Let her know I'm all right, too?"

Gail looked out the window, just to make certain that she wasn't listening at that time. When it was confirmed that she wasn't, Gail agreed to the very simple request.

Josh took back the phone and made a request of his own. "When the others find out about this, I know they're going to generally panic and want to find ways of sneaking away to here. I don't want any of that if they can't defend themselves here. So, unless the Digidestined can 'wield' a Pokémon, they shouldn't bother. They'll only succeed in endangering themselves."

It took a few moments for Gail to understand exactly where Josh was going with it, but after that, it was very clear. "I understand. The only people who will go over there will be trainers like you guys."

Josh smiled. "Thank you, Mom."

The conversation finished with standard good-byes before both Mom and son hung up their respective phones.

Ryo patted Josh on the back and said, "Do you feel any better now? They aren't going to worry as much about you. And, you've made sure that only those who can fight here actually come."

"Yeah… unfortunately, I believe the vast majority of Digidestined who also happen to be trainers are here on Hoenn already. You, me, Kyle, Casey, Alan… Dori… Edward Silver…" Josh said in a serious tone.

"I get the point, already. There are only a couple of people who could be pulled away from their duties and be able to effectively fight here." Ryo said, a bit exacerbated by his friend's continued stubbornness.

The rest of that night would be utilized for the same reason as anyone else would use it: sleep. Well… almost everyone would use it for that purpose. Kyle had left the Pokémon Center while no one was looking, including Alan, who was enthralled with Casey, as usual.

Kyle looked up at the night sky, saw that the moon was almost full, and sighed. ~I'm sorry, you guys, but I can't endanger you with this form.~

Kyle wandered into the woods surrounding the town, knowing that out there, there would be no chance of causing further collateral damage.

Back inside the Center, not surprisingly, Alan would be the first to notice Kyle's absence. "Where did he go?" Alan asked calmly.

Josh and Ryo, having just gotten off the phone, looked at each other and shrugged, "Beats the heck out of me," both would say almost in tandem.

Alan began to get up and insisted, "I'm going to go find him before something happens."

Casey, though, wasn't having any of it. "Alan, he's probably just gone off to be somewhere where he can be with his Pokémon and practice until the conference. So, just relax. He can take care of himself."

Alan looked down at the young purple-haired trainer. After an awkward pause, he sighed and sat back down again. "I guess you're right. But, I'm still worried about him, what with all the threats running around."

James pointed out, "Since our little encounter at Mirage Tower, we haven't seen hide or hair of my former colleagues… or even of the rest of Team Rocket. He'll be fine."

Alan remained silent for a few seconds more, and then sighed. "Fine, we'll let him be for now."

---

About an hour after they went to bed, a howl was heard in the distance once again, just like back in Mauville. A chill went up Alan's spine. Kendrix, resting nearby, relaxed him, though, "It's probably just some Poochyena nearby." she whispered.

"Probably?" Alan whispered. "Can't you tell?"

"It's on the edge of my range..." Kendrix frowned. This, Alan realised, was why Kendrix wasn't speaking telepathically...all her psychic power was being used to try and focus on the source of the howl. "I'm getting a definite sense of 'dog', though... canine, anyway. And it's angry."

Alan was silent for a moment. "Keep an 'eye' on whatever it is. We might have to deal with it if it comes closer to town. Any sign of Kyle?"

It was Kendrix's turn to be silent. :No.: she said, switching back to telepathy. She looked down, knowing full well what he was thinking. :May I remind you that the last time you went out on your own, you got captured by Aqua? If I get any sense that Kyle is in danger, I'll wake everyone. For now, get some rest.:

Unconvinced, yet knowing Kendrix was right, Alan tried to sleep. But, as worried as he was, it took a couple of hours before he finally drifted off.

-4:30 A.M.-

Most everyone was sleeping, which was natural at this time of the early morning. One who wasn't, though, was Caryl, who was waking up around now due to the fact that she was used to it back home… when adjusted for time zones and all that stuff.

She noticed that everyone else was asleep, shrugged, and turned back over to get some more sleep.

A thought occurred to her, though, as she settled down for slumber. _I don't remember that Alan bloke much. _She'd heard _about_ him a few times, but this was her first time meeting him in person. Silently, she wondered what the heck she'd done to merit his less than enthusiastic response.

Had Kendrix been doing anything except concentrating on the wolf presence, she would have been able to tell Caryl it was her personality, and propensity of doing things to Ryo and others, including when she'd locked Josh & Casey in handcuffs for weeks. In other words, Caryl's reputation had preceded her.

Putting the thought out of her mind, Caryl went back to sleep and slept a further 3 hours peacefully.

-8:00 A.M.-

Everyone began to wake up, ready to begin another day out and about in the world; or, at least within Fallarbor itself.

The Digidestined began to wake up, as did James. "Good morning…" a very groggy Josh said.

"Good morning!" an enthusiastic Caryl yelled.

Alan winced and rolled over in his bed. "Don't you have an off switch?" he asked sarcastically.

"We've only got one more day before we'll be crammed inside that Contest Hall for the Conference, so we might as well enjoy some scenery!" Caryl suggested. She added, for extra effect, "Godland might be beautiful, but this place is also quite pretty."

"I don't know about that…" James said with a light sigh, his mind clearly on something else. "Should we leave without telling Kyle?"

Caryl's response was quick and concise. "Oh, we aren't leaving town. We're just going to take a relaxing day and look around."

Everyone was still hesitating to take Caryl up on her offer. But, before long, she added, "Besides, you guys don't find a way to release your frustrations every once in a while, you're going to end up feeling very crook."

James took light offense, not having any idea what Caryl actually said. "I resemble that remark!" he quipped.

After a further five minutes or so of arguments, Caryl was finally able to convince Ryo and his friends to take a day off from their work. As she put it, "Everyone needs to take a holiday every once in a while!"

Not even Alan, who wasn't really thrilled at the prospect of spending one minute more with Caryl than necessary, could argue with that point. So, it was decided that they would walk about town. Taking in what few sights there were in a town this small, including the Contest Hall itself, their attention was soon focused on the natural wonders outside of town, like a lovely cascading waterfall just west of town.

"There's a lot of water around here," Casey noted, knowing that her Elekid would be at a great advantage here.

"What exactly do you expect? Where there's a giant waterfall, normally there will be a body of water." Josh bluntly pointed out.

"Oi." Alan remarked, raising an eyebrow. Josh looked at him nervously, but Alan didn't press the warning further, his point made.

Much of the rest of that day was spent enjoying the natural beauty of the area. Not to mention…

"Come on out, everyone!" Josh released Blade, Koffing, Beldum and Mawile.

"Time to have a good time!" Casey released Aquaris, Meganium and Elekid, allowing them to frolic about.

Following suit, everyone else released their Pokémon out into the grassy knoll they had found right near the waterfall, allowing over a dozen Pokémon to wander and play with each other.

One of the more popular games of the day was Chase the Blade, where Delta Grovyle had to run from everyone, and stay ahead of his pursuers. It was great, if immature fun. This, of course, was the exact reason why Kendrix didn't play this game. Well, that and the fact that the game was far too easy for someone who could inflict mental paralysis on someone at a moment's notice.

Everyone watched with a great deal of enjoyment as the Pokémon could finally take a day off.

For Charmeleon, though, this meant sleeping on the job, while for Swinub, it meant sniffing the ground and searching for stuff. But, most of her time was spent sniffing the ground for new smells. Birch, meanwhile, did his own searching, as was his appointed task, but took his time with it, enjoying the scenery as he went.

Sableye, meanwhile, enjoyed disappearing for a few moments, then reappearing to break up moments between the Pokémon, like Aquaris and Jyou, as well as the humans. At one point, she did this to Alan and Casey and got very swiftly whacked upside the head for her trouble before she had chance to phase out again.

"Timing." Alan quipped as the Ghost-type sulked away. Ryo gave Alan a disapproving look, and the Englishman just shrugged in response.

-2:00 P.M.-

Caryl presented something to the rest of the team which made Alan reconsider, slightly, his position on the annoying one. She'd brought along for everyone a picnic lunch. Sandwiches, potato salad, strangely enough, a few Kiwis, and drinks for all. She'd even brought along some food for the Pokémon.

There was enough time during this lunch to consider their next move after the Conference.

"Where's our next stop after we're done here?" Josh asked before taking a bite of a ham sandwich.

Ryo looked at his map and then pointed to a place near Mount Chimney. "Probably there." Josh looked and saw the map read that it was Lavaridge Town.

"That's where our next Gym is, I'm guessing?" Alan surmised.

"According to this, yes." Ryo stated, nodding.

"Then it's settled. We'll go over there, defeat another Gym, and get another step closer to the Hoenn League." Josh stated.

"Maybe I'll give it a try too!" Caryl exclaimed suddenly.

Alan sweatdropped and asked, "How long are you going to be around for?"

Caryl grinned and said, "You guys get to have me for two whole weeks!"

Alan groaned at that statement. _That's just prime_ he thought, exasperated, and went back to ignoring her again.

An hour later, as a cool breeze swept over the picnic, there was a strange urge to take a nap. This was partially due to the over-eating, but mostly due to the fact that this environment was almost more conducive to relaxation than a place like the Sandstorm Desert.

As such, Alan and Casey would cuddle up and go to sleep, as would Ryo and Caryl. Josh and James, not surprisingly, didn't cuddle as they went to sleep. That would have been weird, despite certain rumours about James.

-3 hours and 15 minutes later, around 6:15 P.M.-

Casey would be the first to wake up, partly due to shivering as the temperature began to drop. Not the least bit surprising as the sun was going down. She yawned and stretched out in her sleeping bag. "Well… maybe it's about time to cook some dinner." She told herself, since no one else was really awake.

"That's a great idea… too bad I thought of it first." another young woman's voice said happily.

Casey looked over to see who it was, and smiled when she saw the source of the voice. "Hey, Dori!"

Almost immediately, Josh's ears perked up and he began to wake up. Rather unusual, since he was such a heavy sleeper. He yawned and stretched. When he saw Dori, he said, "Hey… you're here for the Conference early, aren't ya?"

With a light blush that she hid by turning her face, Dori replied, "So, so what if I am?"

Josh's face turned slightly red itself. "Uh…"

Casey giggled and offered some help to the young lady at the campfire. "Don't worry so much about Dori." ToyAgumon told her. "I'll help her out!"

With a smile, Casey nodded and turned her attention back to the still-sleeping Alan.

-30 minutes later-

The rest of their party had awoken gradually due to the smell of the food cooking on the campfire nearby. But, tensions were running a bit higher than before because of a move by Casey.

In fact, things started to go wrong just after Alan woke up. "Hey, Dori..." he said, greeting the new trainer in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner. However, it was his turn for his face to shade red a bit. _Stop it,_ he told himself. _You're spoken for_.

However, Casey saw the blush and instantly felt possessive towards her boyfriend. She glanced from Alan to Dori feeling a very strong attraction of her own towards the blonde... which immediately made the possessive feelings worse. Alan hadn't exactly been protective of his virginity back at Thunder Hill; Casey had felt slightly guilty about deflowering him, but Alan had seemed perfectly happy about the whole thing. Still, it didn't exactly inspire confidence in his ability to resist temptation. And, even if she only admitted it to herself, Casey found Dori _very_ tempting.

Figuring that if there was any chance of Alan fooling around with Dori, her best bet was to try and keep him from looking at her too much, Casey proceeded constantly get into Alan's line of sight toward Dori. "Hey, lovebird…" she would say every single time she got in the way.

The implication was ridiculously obvious, and it kind of pissed Alan off. "You know… I'm not someone who will do that sort of thing with…"

Cluelessly, ToyAgumon asked, "What sort of thing?"

Immediately, both trainers blushed crimson. Casey stormed off and Alan watched her go for a moment. "Let's take a walk, ToyAgumon." He glanced towards Dori, who shrugged. Taking that as permission, Alan walked away from the group, ToyAgumon in tow.

"Need a hand with that?" Josh asked.

"Since I seem to have lost my co-chef, please." Dori said. She nodded towards Alan's departing back. "What was _that_ about?"

Josh paused for a moment before answering. _Is there a delicate way of phrasing this?_ "I think," he said, "that Casey's trying to keep her boyfriend away from the unplucked forbidden fruit."

"'The unplucked for..." It was Dori's turn to go crimson. "Oh. Me." Josh nodded. Dori considered this for a moment, then shrugged. "Eh, I guess I wouldn't kick him out of bed."

"Phwee?" Josh's eyebrow's climbed almost to his hair.

Seeing his expression, Dori relented a little. "I'm kidding, Josh." She arced an eyebrow at him. "What makes you think I'm 'unplucked', anyway?"

Josh squirmed. "I don't. Are you?" he asked, before he could stop himself.

Dori winced._ Ok, I left myself wide open for that one._ After kicking herself for her own mental innuendo, she admitted. "I am, actually."

"Until, as Casey believes, Alan gets his hands on you." Josh noted.

"Yeah, I'm going to have to have a long talk with her." Dori sighed, clearly annoyed. "It's ridiculous. I'm not in any hurry to give up my virginity and even if I was, I'm _not_ going to lose it to someone else's boyfriend."

"I believe that." Josh said simply. The fact that Casey was the one Dori needed to convince hung unspoken in the air.

"Good." was all Dori could think to say. There was awkward silence and cookery for a minute or two, then Dori ventured another, hopefully safer question, "How long have they been dating anyway?"

Josh shrugged. "A month or so."

-Meanwhile-

"I think we're far enough away now." Alan told ToyAgumon. In fact, they'd moved just far away to be out of earshot, while still having a clear view of where the rest of the Destined were (which also meant the others could see them, of course).

"So, are you gonna tell me what 'sort of things' you and Casey were talking about?" ToyAgumon asked.

Alan sat down on the grass, folding his legs so his chin touched his knees, hoping it didn't look like he was hiding something. "Well... You know the things you want to do with Josh's Agumon?"

It was interesting watching the bricks that represented ToyAgumon's cheeks completely change colour as she blushed. "Oh, _those_ things." she muttered, several very explicit images running through her head.

"Yeah..."

ToyAgumon blinked as she tried to process the thoughts whirling through her head. "Wait... and Casey thinks you want to do those things with Dori? _Do_ you want to do those things with Dori?"

Alan breathed slowly as he collected his thoughts, "Well...the thing is..." he nodded as he figured out what to say, "part of being Casey's boyfriend is that I'm only supposed to do those things with her, not with any other girl."

"I think I see." Toy Agumon said. "And that's why Casey's acting weird?"

"Basically." Alan said. "How'd you feel if Josh's Agumon was having sex with another girl?"

ToyAgumon shivered visibly at that thought. "I think I'd be sick." she said. "I couldn't bear it."

Alan nodded. "Horrible thought, isn't it? If I tried anything with Dori while I was still dating Casey, it'd be considered 'cheating'; in essence, a betrayal of my relationship with her." He allowed this to sink in before continuing. "Trick is, I already know this."

"So you wouldn't 'cheat' on Casey?" ToyAgumon asked.

"Of course not." Alan said. "There are people out there who would cheat on their partners, but I sure as hell have no intention of being one of them". He began to count off points on his fingers. "One, it's crass. Two, it'd be unfair to both Casey _and_ Dori. Three, I've got a Loyalty Digi-Egg to live up to. Does cheating on a girlfriend sound loyal to you?"

"No, no it doesn't." ToyAgumon agreed. But a question was still nagging at her brain. "Alan?"

"Hmm?"

"If you weren't dating Casey..." ToyAgumon trailed off.

Alan chuckled. "Well, then I could be persuaded. However, even if Casey wasn't an issue, there's still a couple of flaws in that plan."

"Like what?"

"One, just because I want to have sex with Dori doesn't mean she wants to have sex with me. Two..." Alan gestured towards Josh. "...well, I don't think I'm first in that particular queue."

ToyAgumon giggled. "They do seem to like each other." she observed, then blinked. "Wait... you _do_ want to have sex with Dori?"

Alan shrugged. "As I said... _if_ I wasn't already dating Casey, _if _Dori was even interested in me and _if_ I could do so without breaking Josh's heart into pieces... then yeah, the idea would definitely appeal."

"Fair enough." ToyAgumon chuckled at a sudden thought. "Maybe I should tell Dori?" she teased.

"Don't you dare." Alan warned. "That'd only make things worse."

ToyAgumon nodded. "I see what you mean." She stood up, then sat back down again heavily as her legs gave out from under her. "Oooh."

Alan frowned at her "Are you ok?"

"I... I don't know. Dizzy... can't breathe."

Alan nodded. He could guess what was wrong. "Sounds like I've kept you away from Dori too long." He stood up, then collected ToyAgumon into his arms. "C'mon. Let's get you back to that Digi-Egg." he said, refferring to Dori's Digi-Egg of Love.

-----

While Dori and Josh attended to dinner, the others set about feeding the Pokemon as they woke up. Only Kendrix remained asleep. "She was up all night." Alan explained simply, telling the others about the canine presence Kendrix had sensed.

As dinner was served up, Casey finally rejoined the group, drawn back by the smell of beef stew. She looked around to see Ryo sitting next to Caryl (naturally), Josh sitting with Dori and Alan sitting not far from James.

"Hey, Casey." Dori said, getting up and moving over to the pot. "You hungry?"

"Yeah." Casey said. "Smells great."

Dori filled a bowl with stew and handed it over. "And Casey?" she added, in a lower voice.

"Um... yes?" Casey swallowed.

"Even if Alan did intend to try anything with me, I have no intention of letting him. Ok?" Dori smiled.

"Ok." Casey nodded, at least slightly. Her point made, Dori went back to her meal. Bowl of stew in hand, Casey moved over to her boyfriend. "Mind if I sit here?"

"Course not." Alan shrugged and Casey sat down. "So what have _you_ been up to?" Alan asked quietly, smirking.

Casey blushed. Alan knew her too well. "Well, you were too busy talking to ToyAgumon," she replied, just as quietly. "so I had to... well, manage by myself." Alan chuckled and Casey offered him a sheepish grin. "So, what were you and ToyAgumon talking about?"

"Just giving her few pointers on the responsibilities of dating." Alan replied dryly.

"Oh." Casey cringed a little. Now she _really_ felt like an idiot.

"Let's be clear here." Alan whispered in Casey's ear. "I'm not going to try to fuck Dori behind your back." He glanced over at Dori before adding "As tempting as she may be, give me a little credit for restraint."

Casey was somewhat reassured, but she couldn't help noticing one thing. "And immediately your mind goes straight to the carnal." she whispered back, amused. "There's more to girls than having sex with them."

"Well, yes." Alan said, though he did understand her point. Which didn't stop him from adding, "Theoretically there's more to me than having sex, but that's never stopped you before."

"Touche." Casey admitted. "Look, I'm sorry about earlier. Guess I could do with being more trusting. Forgive me?"

"Sure." Alan said, leaning forward and kissing her, his lips briefly meeting hers.

"Aww." Dori said, causing Alan and Casey blush. "Glad to see you two have kissed and made up." Ryo, Josh, James and ToyAgumon voiced her agreement, though Caryl, still not very trusting of Alan herself, said nothing.

Alan waited until attention had drifted away from them before whispering in Casey's ear again. "She is unspeakably hot though." he admitted.

"Tell me about it." Casey agreed. Her mouth quirked. "You don't think she'd be up for a threesome, do you?"

"Had wondered." Alan chuckled.

Dori could feel her ears burning, but didn't hear what was being said and decided she'd be better off not asking.

---

Everyone ate a hearty meal as produced by Dori and Josh. Josh would probably have enjoyed it had it been as tough as shoe leather. The good news was that it was actually very nice indeed. Alan, being Alan, was the first to have seconds. He was not, however, the only one.

"That was a really good stew," Ryo told Dori after everyone had finished.

"Thanks. Just got a new recipe and had to find someone to try it out." Dori replied with a growing smile on her face. "I'm just glad it worked out all right."

"Maybe I shouldn't have eaten three bowls." Casey muttered, feeling rather ill.

"If you keep cooking like this, Dori, we may have to kidnap you." Alan joked.

"If you need a pit-trap, just let me know." James told him, also joking. Everyone chuckled at that.

It was about this time that Caryl looked across at Alan and said, "So… what's your deal?"

Alan frowned at her. "My 'deal'?"

Ryo quickly 'corrected' his girlfriend, stammering to cover up his embarrassment. "What she meant to say was… what's the deal with… those special abilities of yours!" Of course, that hadn't been what Caryl meant to say at all, and even Caryl looked at Ryo skeptically.

Giving Ryo a bemused look, Alan asked, "What's up with my special abilities? What do you mean by that?"

Continuing to cover his girlfriend's behind, Ryo extrapolated his original question. "Where… do your abilities come from? I've never seen another human capable of what you are capable of."

"That... wasn't where you were going with that at all, was it?"

"Not really." Caryl shrugged. "Ryo has a point though. What _is_ the deal with those weird powers of yours?"

Alan considered this for a moment, then shrugged. "I suppose this conversation was inevitable. My powers are what are called 'Digital Powers'. They allow normally average humans to participate in battle in new ways..."

Ryo raised an eyebrow and asked, "Participate? What does that mean?"

Alan pulled out his D-Terminal, shrugging. "I couldn't exactly say 'fight', because not all Digital Powers are used for battle, though most of them are. Digital Powers allow their users to use the techniques of Digimon in battle."

"Do you need special items to use these powers?" James inquired.

"Oh yes," Alan answered. He typed a few commands into the D-Terminal. "You need one of these." A red and orange Digi-Egg with small white horns popped out and Alan caught it before holding it out for everyone to see. "Meet the Legendary Digi-Egg of Courage."

Caryl raised her eyebrow and stated what she thought was the obvious, "Legendary Digi-Eggs? That's a bit ostentatious, isn't it?"

"I didn't name them, Caryl." Alan replied sharply.

"What's the difference between regular Digi-Eggs and 'Legendary' Digi-Eggs?" James asked, now plainly curious.

"Apart from the whole 'being from another dimension' thing," Alan said, "The Legendary Digi-Eggs have a few differences. While normal Digi-Eggs can turn their users into various Armour forms depending on the Digimon who uses them, the Legendary Digi-Eggs are each locked to specific forms: The Legendary Warriors."

"Legendary Digi-Eggs, Legendary Warriors… Makes sense," Ryo commented, giving his girlfriend a pointed look.

"I suppose." Caryl shrugged. Privately she wondered if Alan was making up the whole thing.

"So each Legendary Digi-Egg turns whoever uses it into one specific form?" Dori asked.

Alan nodded. "Yeah. Agunimon of Courage for starters." He picked up the Digi-Egg in front of him, returning it to his D-Terminal.

"Wolfmon of Light." Josh remembered.

Alan nodded "Duskmon of Darkness, Mercuremon of Loyalty..." he gave Josh and Dori an expectant look.

Dori got it first, her eyes widening. "Ranamon of Reliability." she breathed.

"Grottomon of Knowledge, Abormon of Sincerity," Alan confirmed, then shrugged, "and so on."

"So Ranamon and company were Legendary Warriors?" Josh asked.

"No, Josh." Dori said. "From what Ranamon told me, her mother was a Ranamon. They were all just normal Armour Digimon."

"Though the repetition of pattern is interesting." Alan commented.

"So the Digital Powers are another of these differences?" James asked.

Alan chuckled. "Right, sorry James. We were getting off track, weren't we? Yeah, the Digital Powers are another difference, which the Digidestined of that universe could use to battle foes without needing to Spirit Evolve."

_Spirit Evolve? _Ryo opened his mouth to ask, but wasn't fast enough.

"So why can't Davis and the others use Digital Powers?" Caryl asked.

"For a simple technical reason: their Digi-Eggs aren't coded to be able to do that." Alan explained.

"You sure?" Josh asked.

"Izzy checked." Alan replied simply. Even Caryl couldn't argue with that.

"So how many Digital Powers do you have?" James asked.

"Four... well, three at the moment, because Jessie has my Darkness Digi-Egg."

Ryo blinked. "One per Egg?" he asked.

"Yeah. Each Legendary Digi-Egg has one slot for a Digital Power... and only one. According to Izzy, there wouldn't have been room for any more slots even if the designers had wanted to include them, at least not without sacrificing another function. And, Hoenn being Hoenn, there is another issue; Digital Powers also require Digital Energy and that's in somewhat short supply around here. Digi-Eggs have a certain amount of storage charge, but..."

"Hence why you can't use your powers more often, right?" Josh guessed.

Alan nodded lightly. "Correct."

Curiously, Dori brought out her D-terminal and pushed a few buttons. It brought up a purple egg with three silver stripes on it. "Why can't I do anything like that from this?"

Alan looked at the screen, directly at Dori's Digi-Egg of Love. "Good question. Your Digi-Egg is from the same set as my Eggs, so you certainly have the potential for a Digital Power."

Ryo was just about to try again to ask what 'Spirit Evolve' meant when Caryl decided to speak up. "'Your eggs'? Sounds to me like you're trying to hoard all the Legendary Digi-Eggs for yourself." She snorted. "Typical bloke. Casey's right, you probably only gave Dori the Digi-Egg of Love so you could get into her knickers."

_**"CARYL!" **_Dori yelled, mortified.

Alan's eyes bulged. He fallen for Casey quite thoroughly over the past few months, but his feelings for her were more fragile than he'd realised. The mental image of Casey's 'guarding' crystal clear in his mind, his previous irritation exploded into fury that surged through his mind, shattering those feelings into pieces. "Oh, well _**THANK YOU!"**_ he snapped, whirling on her. "It's nice to be _**TRUSTED!"**_

"I - I - " Casey tried to think of some way to defend herself. This was difficult, both because of fear at the rage in Alan's eyes... and because she vaguely remembered voicing that very opinion in Caryl's presence. But that had been months ago, hadn't it? But in her hesitation, she lost her chance.

"I'll deal with you later." Alan scowled, his demeanor going past 'enraged' and into 'far too calm, run'. "As for you," he continued, turning back to Caryl, "Yes, "my eggs". I am their guardian until the remaining dormant eggs find their masters, just as the Digi-Egg of Love found Dori."

"You've got _four_!" Caryl complained. "That's so unfair. What did you do, pick your favourites?"

"They chose me, you immature little psychopath." Alan retorted. "I didn't choose Dori as the holder of the Digi-Egg of Love, the Digi-Egg itself did that. I don't know who the remaining Eggs will choose as their holders, but I'm guessing they've got more sense than to pick you."

"What do you mean?" Caryl asked, annoyed, "I'm a great Digidestined!"

"You're no Digidestined at all." Alan retorted. "You think about nothing but your own amusement. And lets face it, the only reason you've lasted this long is because of Renamon, or because you get Ryo to catch things for you."

Caryl's jaw dropped "_Ryo_!" she wailed. "What have you been telling him?"

"I - I didn't..." Ryo stammered.

"Ryo told me nothing. Spinda told me himself!" Alan told Caryl, his smile predatory. "Good luck trying to _control_ Spinda, because he's seen how useless you are first hand, even with an Aerodactyl helping!"

"How did you..." Caryl scowled as comprehension dawned. "That bloody Fearow! Well, I'll show you! I'll be the most useful Digidestined and Pokemon Trainer there ever was or will ever be! Certainly more useful than some silly eggs! I'll be more useful than any of you!"

"Only if we need a virgin sacrifice and have to kill someone we don't like!" Alan shot back at Caryl. "Actually, that's a point," he said, turning to Caryl's boyfriend, "Ryo, do everyone a favour: Get her neutered _before_ you sleep with her. Some people shouldn't be allowed to breed."

"Oh," Caryl, pushed over the edge by Alan's insults, snarled. "And I suppose this makes you better than me?" With that, she snatched the D-terminal out of his hands, and waved it in his face. "Well?"

For his part, Alan froze, paralyzed both by the sheer audacity of Caryl's snatching the D-terminal from his hand, and the near blinding level of rage he felt.

Ryo couldn't even find the words to showcase the level of surprise he felt. But, after a few moments, he yelled, "Caryl, don't!"

"I'm sorry, Ryo!" Caryl exclaimed. "I don't want to cut our vacation short, but I don't have to stay here and be insulted!"

Realising she was about to cut and run on Ryo, and possibly take his device with her, Alan glanced over to Kendrix, hopefully, but the Fearow was still fast asleep. _Dammit, _Alan thought, _if only I could Digivolve Tommy to Charizard._

"And as for you," Caryl yelled, "nobody insults Caryl Kyashi and gets away with it! So this, " she said as she brandished Alan's D-Terminal, "this is _confiscated_!" she smiled triumphantly.

Alan's head whipped round at her. "You have no right." he intoned, his voice taking on a strange cadence. Josh and Casey paled as they saw Alan's aura becomes visible to their more special senses, black energy glowing around him.

_**"I HAVE EVERY RIGHT!"**_ Caryl yelled back. "You need to learn how to respect a lady! So I'm taking these and I'm gonna hide it somewhere in Kanto only I know about." she paused, thinking for a second. "Probably Kanto. Maybe."

"You will not get away with this." Alan intoned, standing up.

"Caryl, stop this before this goes too far!" Josh yelled. "Just give Alan his D-Terminal!"

"Not a chance, Josh!" Caryl pointed at Alan. "I'm taking these now. If you want them back, come find me and give me the most groveling apology of your life! Only then will I_ think _about telling you where they are."

"I will stop you." Alan intoned.

Caryl laughed. "Stop me? How are you planning to _catch_ me?" she asked, gesturing at the sleeping Kendrix, "You've got nothing else that can fly!" She took that as a sort of cue to leap onto Aerodactyl and take to the skies.

That, as it turned out, was the final straw. A scream ripped from Alan's throat as his aura went nuclear, exploding into a large black cloud of smoke, briefly covering him from view.

Josh, Ryo and Casey stepped back, as everyone was repelled by the energy which radiated from the smoke. After a few moments, it cleared and everyone gaped as they saw that Alan's appearance had changed. His skin had paled considerably and his clothes had bleached to what looked like black, but on closer inspection would have turned out to be a very, very dark green. Alan's hair, too had changed slightly, acquiring a greenish hint. But what really made them scared were his eyes, his pupils now black, with shining green irises. But Josh and Casey could see one further detail... black smoke pouring off Alan's body.

"Oh crap, he's shadowed." Josh realised.

"Like Manectric?" Ryo asked.

"Kinda." Josh responded.

It was Casey who got up the nerve to approach. "Alan, are you..."

Without a word, Alan stepped back, his fist swinging faster than anyone could register it moving, smashing against Casey's jaw. She spun and collapsed to the ground.

"Hey, you shouldn't treat your girlfriend like that." James protested, the first words he'd dared speak.

"She's not my girlfriend." Alan replied coldly, "Not anymore." As she was trying to get up, Casey froze, unable to believe his words. Alan turned towards her, putting a foot on her belly to prevent Casey from rising any further. "I have no room in my life for traitors, for people I can't even trust. You and me? We're over."

Casey's eyes widened as she tried to process this "But... but... _bleeaargh_!"

Alan watched coldly as Casey vomited over herself. "Pathetic." he snorted. "And to think I actually thought I loved you." Some of her vomit had gotten on his shoe, but he ignored it.

"Leave her alone!" Ryo demanded.

"Certainly." Alan replied. "I'm done with her." As he turned away, Casey's entire world collapsing behind him, Alan fixed his gaze on Caryl. "Now for you." Casually, he tossed out Tommy's Poké Ball, releasing the Charmander onto the field. The other Digidestined gasped as they saw Tommy's skin had gone black.

_It's just like what Agumon used to do long ago…_ Josh thought to himself, realizing the parallels between his fight with Murmuxmon and Alan's current situation… and becoming somewhat frightened. It wasn't Shadow they were dealing with, but Darkness, something Josh was far too familiar with.

"What's going on?" Tommy asked, his voice changed just as Alan's had.

"Caryl has stolen my D-Terminal." Alan explained to his partner. "We have to get it back from her."

"Understood" Tommy nodded, and turned his attention to Caryl. "She will pay."

"Yes, she will." Alan promised, dark intent piercing each and every word. He pulled out his Digivice, the screen now also tinted with darkness. "I feel the power flowing through me, Tommy. Use that power... and Digivolve!"

Tommy shone with a dark light and began to morph. "Charmander, Dark Digivolve to… BurningGreymon!"

The Digimon resulting from this was not, perhaps fortunately, the Beast Hybrid known otherwise known as Vritramon. Instead, it looked like a Greymon, but with black skin and a dark purple skull mask, red stripes all across both. An instant later, plumes of flame erupted from all of the stripes as BurningGreymon roared.

With the obvious exception of Alan, everyone's psyche was shaken, including the previously confident Caryl. Although, she did point out one fact: "That looks like a cross between Greymon and Cyndaquil!"

As if on cue, BurningGreymon turned around and yelled out, "Flame Plume!" Shooting out his "mane" of fire on his back, BurningGreymon sought to burn up Caryl. Luckily, while Caryl was in a bit of a daze, Aerodactyl wasn't, and flew away from the blast, only taking minor damage on one of its legs.

Ryo yelled out, "What do you think you're doing, Alan?!"

Alan's response was cold and calculated, "First, I'm going to rip her womb out. Then, if _that _doesn't satiate me, I'm going to kill her." A gasp went through the remaining Digidestined, and even James, who hadn't seen this level of darkness even from Jessie.

The response was immediate. They'd discussed this, in the wake of the Mauville disaster and Trey's freak out. and Alan, then in a much saner mood, had been perfectly clear: "If I go evil, like Trey did, _take me out._ Don't hesitate._"_

Ryo sent out Sableye, while Josh countered with Koffing. Casey, her eyes streaming with tears, used Aquaris.

Dori and James hadn't been at that meeting, but they got the idea, James releasing Cacnea. This turned out to be a mistake, for a frightened Cacnea jumped back from the battle and grabbed onto her master, hiding from the gigantic Dark Champion Digimon. Dori, meanwhile, wordlessly sent ToyAgumon into battle, wondering if she dared Armour Digivolve her into Fairymon.

Josh called out, "Koffing, use Smokescreen now!" The gaseous Pokémon obeyed the command, releasing a plume of smoke from its mouth and its pores, covering the area in thick smoke moments later.

Caryl got the idea almost immediately and ordered Aerodactyl to fly into the smoke. Alan coughed, and then frowned. "So, you want to hide her from me?" After a moment, he began to smirk, "No matter. Soon enough, she'll be gone for good." Alan began to walk forward, BurningGreymon not far behind.

-Meanwhile, Rocket HQ-

Murmuxmon, who had been overseeing more construction within the base, suddenly shot his head up, feeling the spike in Darkness energy. Without so much as a word, he excused himself and went straight to the surveillance room. "What is this spike of energy I can feel?" The Digimon leader asked of Giovanni's underlings.

"From what we can tell, sir, it's coming from just to the west of Fallarbor Town." One of them responded while typing in a command. An image appeared on screen, and Murmuxmon could see a bit of what was going on. Much of the field was still covered in a smoky fog, of course. But, what he could see immediately interested him.

"I've never seen a Digimon which looked like that before…" Murmuxmon responded, looking curious. But, then he saw exactly what he was looking for. Peaking out of the fog was an aura, a very dark aura. "Josh doesn't have his precious Agumon here… which can only mean…"

The same underling looked back at the mighty Digimon, "Yes. We believe this to be a result of the former owner of the Digi-Egg of Darkness."

Murmuxmon began to smirk, suddenly very interested in something which appeared to be tangential to their plans. "Keep an eye on the battle. I want to watch how this unfolds."

-Back on the Battlefield-

BurningGreymon was assaulted, if that was the word, by a tiny Sableye, being scratched on one of his legs by her Fury Swipes. He couldn't really counter with a simple stomp of his foot, because she could simply disappear and avoid damage.

All Alan had to do was use his Digivice to follow the energy coming from his D-terminal in order to pursue Caryl. But, every so often, a tree or something got in the way. So, BurningGreymon used its Fire Claw attack to mow it down, slicing it cleanly into 3 parts.

"You can't hide forever out here, Caryl." Alan said, malice very apparent in his voice.

From out of the smoke came a fountain of water which hit BurningGreymon, dealing a minor amount of damage, but more than that, revealing Aquaris' position.

The Digimon roared loudly before saying, "I'm going to enjoy taking you out!"

Casey yelled out, "Stop!" And Alan did, at least momentarily.

"What will killing Caryl solve? All you'll end up doing is spending the rest of your life behind bars for murder! Is it really worth it for this?"

Sadly, Alan wasn't in the mood to hear arguments, especially not from her. "Casey, Get out of our way." BurningGreymon prepared to fire off a Nova Blast attack, building up energy in his mouth.

However, he would never get that chance, as a sudden and powerful strike came right to Tommy's jaw, sending it reeling. The creature which delivered it fell to the ground moments later, landing on its feet. As the smoke began to clear, a gray wolf stood ahead of Casey, as if to protect her and Aquaris.

Alan frowned, puzzled. _That's not Dakarimon._ He realised. So who the hell is it?

-Back at the Base-

Murmuxmon's jaw was threatening to drop over all the twists and turns over the last few minutes. "What on earth is that?" The mummy asked, now genuinely curious.

"According to reports filed about 2 weeks before you got here, that is another of the Digidestined, Kyle Evanick."

Murmuxmon put his hand to his chin, the gears obviously turning again. Devidramon came into the room right about then and looked up to his boss. "What is it that has you thinking so much, Lord Murmuxmon?"

After a further 15 seconds of thought, the Mega-Level Digimon smirked and said, "I was just thinking about something… maybe the rest of those Digidestined aren't as expendable as I first thought…"

Devidramon looked at the screen, and could plainly see why Murmuxmon would think so.

-Back on the Battlefield-

One of the major downsides to being a larger opponent was becoming quite evident. The wolf was able to leap about BurningGreymon and strike numerous times with fangs and muscular legs while the dino was trying to keep up.

This only made Alan even more annoyed. "Enough!" he yelled. "Shadow Claw!" Twin claws materialised, forming over Alan's hands. Faster than humanly possible, he leapt, intercepting the wolf and striking it with the Ghost-type attack, knocking it away from BurningGreymon. "I don't know who you are," Alan stated, brandishing his newfound claws, "but then it doesn't matter who you are, you'll go down just the same."

And in the meantime, Caryl got a fair distance away from the battle, and was safe… for now. "What… did I do… now?" Caryl asked, panting more from fear than from actual exertion. If she had been there, no doubt Renamon would have had a lot to say on the subject. As she heard BurningGreymon roar, Caryl pissed her panties, her nerves shredded.

:You are in _so_ much trouble, young lady.:

If urine hadn't already been running down Caryl's legs, the sudden appearance of _that_ voice in her head would have caused an accident by itself. "Kendrix?" Caryl asked, laughing nervously. "When did you wake up?"

:Who can sleep through THAT roaring?: the Fearow asked. Caryl looked up as Kendrix descended, eyes glowing with power. :Suffice to say, we need to talk.:

---

Meanwhile, deeper in the trees, the same two shadowy figures last seen at Duneedge Town were standing, watching the events unfold in front of them.

"Well, it looks like he went off the deep end." the somewhat shorter, and more human of the two figures observed.

"That would be the understatement of the century," the somewhat taller, and more lupine of the two figures stated. "The real question is… what do we do about it?"

"That much should be obvious," the human stated. "What we really need to do is get the D-Terminal back into Alan's hands."

The lupine figure looked at the humanoid one, "Should I get going now?"

The human figure shook his head. "Not just yet. First, some insurance…" The human pulled out two doses of X Speed.

A smirk played across the lupine figure's face before it took both of them. Immediately, it could feel its legs growing in strength, even if only temporarily. "I'll be back." It said in its most confident voice.

Like a streak of lightning, the lupine figure took off. With Caryl down near the ground, hiding behind another tree, the D-Terminal was easy pickings for it...

Or would have been, if Kendrix hadn't sensed him coming. Dakarimon froze in place instantly, caught in the Fearow's psychic hold.

:And where do you think you're going?: Kendrix's mental voice sounded amused Dakarimon struggled.

"You don't understand!" Dakarimon shouted. "We only want to help."

:You'll forgive me for being skeptical.: Kendrix replied.

"It's true!" Kendrix turned to see Trey approaching. "We think the situation can be resolved if Alan's D-Terminal is returned to him."

:That had occured to me: Kendrix noted.

"I see." Trey said. Caryl flinched as they heard BurningGreymon roar. "So, what now?"

Kendrix answered by letting go of Dakarimon, the wolf promptly returning to Trey's side. :Fortunately for the two of you, we have enough problems. Leave, before I have to reveal your presence to the others:

"Are you sure you guys..." Trey began.

: ..can deal with the situation?: Kendrix completed. :I suspect we'll manage.:

"What was that about?" Caryl asked as the pair left.

:...It's a long story.: Kendrix said. _As Alan would say, one crisis at a time_...

-Meanwhile, Rocket HQ-

"So Miller and his pet tried to 'save the day'?" Murmuxmon asked, bemused.

"For someone who was responsible for devastation and several murders in Mauville, he's sure trying hard to be the hero now." Devidramon noted.

"Quite." Murmuxmon replied in the same tone.

Folding his arms over, Giovanni pointed something out to his two Digimon cohorts. "Still, Mr. Miller's abilities are something which I find rather fascinating…"

Raising an eyebrow, the Mega-Level Digimon turned to the human. "Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?"

Giovanni shook his head immediately. "Not quite." He refused to elaborate further, annoying the two Digimon in the room.

"Regardless, we need to keep our eyes open on these Digidestined… maybe there's more value in them than I originally thought…" Murmuxmon said with an evil smirk painted across his twisted face.

----

Meanwhile, back on the battlefield, things were beginning to turn in Tommy's favor, despite the fact that he had been battered by attack after attack. It was largely a factor of the attacks simply not being strong enough to bring down the Digimon, so powerful was the Darkness that had made him.

Alan would have continued attacking the werewolf himself, but Dori had finally given in and summoned Fairymon, who was thus keeping Alan occupied. Oddly enough, it was "Aridio Anca" that was having the most effect; it wasn't every day that a girl in a bikini repeatedly shoved her buttocks into Alan's face, so the now very Dark Digidestined was somewhat distracted as the dark rage fought his hormones for control, causing the Shadow Claws to dissipate from a sudden unavailability of concentration. Still, Alan was managing to hold his own against the Armour Digimon.

But Alan wasn't Fairymon's only enemy. "Breeza..." she began, then paused, swaying. "Oooh, dizzy." she murmured

Watching this happen, a memory strirred to the top of Alan's brain. She's running out of energy. Call back the Egg. Not wanting ToyAgumon to die, Dori complied. She glanced at her D-Terminal and winced as she saw her Digi-Egg had only 3% of its power remaining.

"Now, what to do, what to do?" Alan wondered. Since Tommy seems to be handling whatever that is, I guess I'd better get back to business. After quickly checking his Digivice, he began to walk towards the forest.

Realising Alan was resuming the hunt for Caryl, Dori quickly got in his way. "You can't!" she pleaded, her face a matter of inches from his.

"I must. I want my Eggs....back...." Alan wavered, his hormones again surging up to disrupt his focus. "You smell _so_ good."

Dori blushed very hard at that. Josh growled, but said nothing

Alan shook his head to clear it, looking Dori in the eyes "The Legendary Digi-Eggs could be our future, Dori." he said. Dori realised by "we" he meant the HoennDestined. "I have to get them back... and Caryl must pay for taking them... and for everything else she's done." Alan smiled evilly. "I'm going to enjoy giving that bitch everything she deserves."

:Alan: Everyone looked up as Kendrix flew towards her master.

"Kendrix?" Alan asked. He glanced towards the spot where the Fearow had been sleeping. "How long have you been awake?"

:Long enough: Kendrix replied. :Here. I've solved at least half your problem:

It was then that Alan noticed his D-Terminal, floating beside the Fearow, held aloft by her powers. As Dori moved aside, Alan reached out and Kendrix uses her powers to direct the D-Terminal into his hand. Almost immediately, the aura surrounding the young teen was diminished by half, a look of pure relief on his face. "Thank you, Kendrix." he said.

:You're welcome:

Then the rage within regained some of its grip on Alan's psyche. "Still..." Alan mused, his voice was still very angry, but no longer as cold. "Caryl still needs to be dealt with."

The slight change in Alan's voice wasn't lost on Ryo, and he immediately began to ask, "Is this really what you want? To slay her and permanently alienate yourself to the rest of the Digidestined?"

"Maybe I think it's worth it to assure that no one else has to suffer her antics." Alan responded, still angry. He gestured to himself, then at BurningGreymon. "Do you forget so quickly that it's her fault Tommy and I are like this?"

"Please, you don't have to do this, Alan…" Ryo said, his voice beginning to sound more desperate with each word.

Unlike before, the words were starting to have an effect, as Tommy continued to fight the werewolf in between the two trainers with Casey and Josh standing off to Ryo's side as support. James had long since fled the battlefield, not that anyone could blame him.

Ryo then made a heartfelt plea, "You might not like her that much, and she might be obnoxious at times… but I love her. Please… don't take her away from me. You'll be hurting far more than you'll be helping."

Alan almost froze in his tracks, hearing those words coming from Ryo's mouth. They almost pierced straight to his core, and made him reconsider his quest for vengeance. At the very least, there was one valid point: killing off Caryl would make him feel better, but there would be a massive shockwave through the Destined, and a lot more people would be harmed.

And besides both of those things, Alan knew his D-Terminal was back in his hands, so the immediate wrong had been corrected.

"If I let her live, you must promise to take much better care to assure that she doesn't pull a stunt like this **ever** again. Or else, the next person she enrages may not be so merciful." Almost with tears in his eyes from the despair, Ryo looked at Alan and proceeded to thank him profusely for this second chance. To his surprise, the darkened Digidestined pulled him into a one-armed hug. "You're an idiot, my friend." Ryo blinked as he registered the change in voice. As he pulled away, Ryo watched Alan's eyes melt into their normal colour. Over the next few moments, the rest of Alan's appearance did the same.

-Back on the Battlefield-

"Are you ok?" Josh asked as he, Ryo and Casey approached Alan.

"I think I'm back, yes." Alan stated, blinking. He looked up at his Fearow.

: The darkness seems to have burned itself out, for now at least.: Kendrix confirmed.

"How much do you remember?" Casey asked.

"Everything." Alan replied, giving her a very cold look. Then he looked around at the four. "And no offence, but your 'take me out' strategy needs work."

"Our 'take you out' strategy needs more power." Josh countered. "We're just not equipped to handle a Dark Digivolved Champion that feeds on Shadow Energy."

"Um, speaking of..." Ryo began. Momentarily forgotten in the reunion, BurningGreymon managed to smack the Werewolf with a Fire Claw, sending it sprawling (though this did have the useful side-effect of putting out any fledgling flames). Roaring in triumph, Burning Greymon moved in for the kill.

Casey turned to Alan. "You've got to stop him!" she begged. "The wolf's on our side!"

Despite how badly his opinion of Casey had fallen, Alan saw no reason to deny this. _**"TOMMY!" **_he yelled. The dino turned towards his trainer's voice. Alan then yelled,_** "LET IT GO, TOMMY!"**_The dino's response was a loud roar in Alan's general direction, not wanting to listen to his partner._** "LEAVE IT! NOW!" **_was Alan's very forceful response to the disinterested partner. _**"THAT'S AN ORDER!"**_

After a long stare-down between Digimon and partner, Tommy finally stood down, snorting a big plume of flame into the air as he did. Almost immediately, orange shone through Tommy as he de-digivolved from BurningGreymon back to Charmander. The moment this happened, the wolf took off for the forest once again.

Then, as the dark aura around Alan dissipated, he began to feel light-headed. So too did Tommy. "Damn... used too much...." Alan realised, just before both he and Tommy collapsed, falling unconscious.

As Casey and Josh both breathed a large sigh of relief, Ryo called out, "You can come out now, Caryl! It's safe!"

Following the advice of her boyfriend, Caryl quickly came out. "I wet myself." she admitted meekly, though this was plain for everyone to see.

"That's alright." Ryo said reassuringly. "I'm just glad you're safe."

"Thanks, Ryo." Caryl said, smiling. "I knew you'd find a way to get him to calm down."

Ryo nodded, and then looked directly into Caryl's eyes. "You must promise me that you'll never do something this dense ever again."

Caryl looked back into Ryo's eyes, and could see, plain as day, the fear in his eyes that he was going to lose her.

So, with that in mind, Caryl did the only thing she could do: take the high road and agree to this "demand" of Ryo's. "If it means not having to deal with this again, I'll gladly agree to calm down… just a little."

Ryo smiled and gave Caryl a light peck on the cheek. Then, after recalling everyone's Pokémon, they carried Alan back to the Pokémon Center to rest. They found James there, as this was where he'd taken Kendrix.

-Later that night, outside Fallarbor Town-

Jessie and Weavile stumbled through the tunnel, both tired as they could be. Weavile fell to the ground and gasped. "How… much… further?" he asked, tired as heck.

Jessie, who was struggling as well, shook her head. "We've got to be close now…"

Suddenly, out of the far wall, they could hear little 'tinks', as if someone was digging into the wall ahead of them.

"Dat must be it! Civilization!" Weavile yelled as he ran headlong into the wall.

Jessie was not quite as excited as Weavile was, mostly because her thoughts continued to circle around the 'traitor".

Surprisingly, Weavile's Headbutt, more or less, took out the very thin wall ahead, and collapsed a passage… right into someone's house. The man with the pick stood there, glasses on and everything, and blinked at the sight ahead of him.

He sighed and said, "I thought I'd discovered a brand-new tunnel… but, someone else found it ahead of me."

Jessie then smirked, an offer coming to mind. "We'll let you take credit for this tunnel… if you give us some food and let us leave in peace."

The prospect of having a tunnel named after him was too much for the prospector to bear. "You've got a deal!"

And so, an hour later, bellies full of food for the first time in days, Jessie and Weavile left the kindly man's hut behind.

"Why didn't ya steal anything from him?" Weavile asked as they walked on the road outside Fallarbor.

"I was too weak to even think about doing something like that. Besides, we've learned that when you go for too much… bad things happen." Jessie said, with a knowing smirk on her face.

After a further 5 minutes of walking, Jessie's thoughts inevitably turned back to James. "And now that we're out, the hunt will begin…"

That thought would never be completed, for Jessie's communicator went off. Needless to say, she answered it. "This is Jessie."

"It's good to hear from you again after your unfortunate incident." A man's voice on the other end replied.

Of course, Jessie knew who it was right away. "Boss!" Weavile blinked, confused as to why the boss would be calling them.

"I need you to return to base immediately. I have a new assignment for you, effective immediately."

Jessie raised her voice in protest, "But Boss!"

The voice came back, a bit more forceful than before, "Don't forget who you're talking to."

Jessie's rage was pushed back… for now. "Yes, Boss."

"Good. You'll have your opportunity to get your vengeance on your former partner soon enough, but there is much work to be done if we are to accomplish our goals." Giovanni responded in a very calm manner.

After another sigh, she nodded, "Understood. We're on our way."

"See that you get here quickly," a click followed as the phone hung up.

Weavile looked up and simply stated, "Look at da upside, Jess. Since we ain't dealin' with 'dose brats, 'dere's no chance we can lose da Digi-Egg o' Darkness."

Jessie nodded with a grumble, "Yeah, yeah. Let's just get moving." And so they would leave the area via a very familiar mode of transport: The Meowth Balloon.

-The following morning, 7:00 A.M.-

The night following the night before was a stressful one of nightmares for Caryl and Ryo, each having imagined the same worst nightmare: Caryl doing something else stupid, and ending up incurring Alan's complete wrath. As she woke up, Caryl was embarrassed to realise her nightmares had caused her to have another 'accident' in her sleep.

"Remind me never to do anything like that EVER again," Caryl implored her boyfriend. "I'm too old to be wetting the bed like this."

Ryo looked at her and responded, "Several times a day if I have to."

It would be around 15 minutes later that Josh, Casey, Dori and James would begin to stir in their beds. Alan was still out like a light. James shook his head and admitted, "I'm not sure who is more frightening, him or Trey."

This caused some thought. "I'd like to see that fight, actually." Josh admitted.

As they ate breakfast, in walked a bright-eyed Kyle, although that was mostly due to very early caffeine consumption at his private camp, "Good morning, everyone."

Josh waved at the young man, and also waved him to their breakfast. "Good morning!" He said with a fair amount of cheer in his voice to hide the general gloom of the day. "You have a good training session with your Pokémon?"

Kyle blinked for a moment, and then said, "Oh, right! The session… we're ready to go today! We'll kick some serious butt!" He nodded confidently to finish off his portrayal of what the Destined were expecting.

James took a sip of milk and thought to himself, _Yeah, right… it's only going to be a matter of time before they find out the truth._

A few minutes later, Josh spoke up and mentioned something which he thought was relevant from his past. "You know, Caryl… some of the stuff Alan did yesterday… you might be able to press charges and get him put away." After a moment's more thought, he added, "Or at least a restraining order."

Caryl blinked and looked at him. "Are you suggesting that I try to get that bloke put behind bars?"

Kyle's face paled slightly, as several thoughts went through his head at once. "Um… I'm not so sure that's a good idea."

Of course, even the fact that Kyle objected to this course of action at all was enough to raise more than a few suspicions about where he really was last night. "What does that mean?" Casey asked.

Kyle realized quickly that his statement was a bit… suspicious, even if his meaning wasn't. "I've seen plenty of anime where that course of action could come back and bite us later."

Ryo looked Kyle in the eye and asked, "Do you really think that would bite us that badly?"

For the otaku, this was the easiest part. "Imagine that we put him behind bars, and he comes to resent us for our actions… with the varied powers he owns, it could be a disaster…"

"Not to mention the fact that someone as unstable as him probably wouldn't do very well in jail to begin with." James continued.

"The last thing we need is to add another enemy to our long list of foes." Ryo mused.

After a moment of silence, Dori spoke up. "Yeah… I'm going to go with 'no' on attempting to get Alan put away." she finished. Everyone nodded in agreement with Dori's ending and finished off breakfast.

Outside, people from all over were beginning to gather around the Contest Hall as the Coordinators were beginning to arrive. Among the people participating was Drew, but there were some new faces as well

This included one red-haired Coordinator who looked around at the crowd and frowned lightly. "Maybe he'll be here," was all she said as she walked inside the building.

Soon after most everyone else had packed in, the Digidestined left the Pokémon Center behind, and Alan still sleeping. This was done on purpose to avoid being hurried, or pushed by a throng of people looking to get good seats.

Just inside the Hall was the place where they would have to split up. "Good luck!" Casey yelled at Kyle, Caryl and Dori.

"Thanks! I'll do my best," Kyle said with a big smile on his face.

"But, your best won't be good enough this time, you bloke." Caryl insisted.

Both looked at each other for a minute, the competitive juices flowing. But, before this scene could get ugly, Ryo insisted that they get moving.

So, with a wave, Josh, Ryo, Casey and James took their seats wherever they could find them in the stands, while Dori, Caryl and Kyle went backstage, after registering officially, and prepared for their Visual Competition round.

Narrator: And so, with anticipation running high and adrenaline just beginning to dissipate from Caryl's near-death experience, the Fallarbor Conference is set to get underway. But, who will emerge as the champion? The bright lights will reveal all… next time!

Next Episode: The Conferences gets underway with the Appeal Round, as Kyle and Caryl have to utilize new tactics to overcome the stronger field. But, someone has a trick up his sleeve to assure his own victory. Will the other Digidestined get wind of this scheme in time? And what exactly will happen to Alan? Find out as the Battle for Fallarbor begins next time!


	15. RoD 15: Battle for Fallarbor, Pt 1

-Outside Fallarbor, 10:00 A.M.-

'BZZT BZZT'

Trey flipped open the expensive satellite phone Team Rocket had given him. "Miller."

Giovanni's suave voice came over the comm. "Mr. Miller, do you have anything to say about your…excursion with the Digidestined?"

Trey pulled the phone away and toggled its speaker phone. "Hmm? Oh, you mean you couldn't tell from the video?" He and Dakarimon shared a grin.

A slight pause. "Video? What makes you think you were being watched?"

Dakarimon chuckled at this, "Begging your pardon, sir, but if you're stupid enough to let two unknowns like us wander around without some form of visual tracking, then not only are we working for the wrong folks, but you're begging to be ran out of the office by Murmuxmon."

"I'll have you know, little rookie, I'm not after his position," said Murmuxmon.

"Of course, why think so small? How thoughtless of us," said Trey, as he rolled his eyes. "Anyway, if you heard what I said to Alan's Fearow, I said I'd give Alan back his D-Terminal. I never mentioned his Digi-Eggs would still be with it."

There was a longer pause from the other end. Giovanni spoke up. "Alright, that's plausible. So care to tell me why I'm receiving a Poké Ball addressed to me?"

"Well, considering we couldn't bring you the Digi-Eggs, Dakarimon and I figured we at least owed you something for the hassle of watching us. That Poké Ball holds within it one of the non-legacy Moltres, an infant, truth be told."

"And where did you get this baby Moltres?"

"Oh, back on Mount Chimney, off the beaten path. Is there anything else you need right now?"

Giovanni responded. "Nothing immediate. You have another three days before you are expected on your way back."

"We'll be there." Trey disconnected and glanced over at Dakarimon. "Three days… how much trouble can we get into in three days?"

Dakarimon snorted, "Far too much. You want to go catch a day or two of the conferences?"

"It'd be good cover, and we can make certain they don't get into too much trouble."

"We're all just a bowl full of jolly goodness and happy feelings, aren't we?" asked Dakarimon rhetorically. He stood and stretched before sticking a hand out for Trey.

Trey grabbed and hauled himself up and started walking toward Fallarbor after stretching. "Don't forget, none of us have skeletons in our closet, and we all sing and dance in the light of rainbows and unicorn beams."

"Unicorn beams? Seriously?"

Trey laughed. "I think it was something I recall from back when I was young and impressionable."

"What is, Bullshit for 400, Alex?"

The two chuckled and walked on.

Narrator: Today, our heroes face the big stage, as Fallarbor Conference is set to debut. But, with certain coordinators seeking to sabotage the efforts of others, it has a far greater edge than Slateport ever did. Will our heroes be ready for the mysterious saboteur? Or will they go down in flames?

Digicross Advanced Episode 45: "Battle for Fallarbor - Part 1"

Episode written by Josh Johannesen

After separating from Kyle, Caryl and Dori, who were competing in the conference, Josh, Casey, James, Ryo and ToyAgumon wandered the halls. Of course, for the Digimon, it meant riding on one of the others. In this case, Josh.

The four humans groaned as they continued to wander the circular hallway surrounding the stage where competition would soon commence. Each and every entrance seemed to be filled with other people trying to cram into the stands and get a bit closer to the overall action.

After about five minutes of said wandering, Josh asked, "How much farther is there of this arena?"

No one really knew the answer, nor were they willing to truly speculate on the point. But, upon looping back to the front entrance, ToyAgumon got a little bit PO'd at all the humans piling in without care about anything which was actually transpiring.

She leapt off Josh's back and shouted, "Toy Flame!" A Lego 'blast of fire' shot out at one cloud of humans, sending them straight to the ground.

As the others sweatdropped, she bowed and said, "No need to thank me. Now, let's get in there fast!"

Much as they didn't like ToyAgumon's… forceful method of entry, no one among them was willing to look a gift horse in the mouth. So, they quickly ran around, and sometimes over, the sprawled people.

-Meanwhile, backstage-

Kyle and Caryl walked into the room where the Coordinators were preparing themselves for the conference, grooming and talking with their individual Pokémon. Unlike the field for Slateport Conference, though, this field seemed to be a lot more talented, from top to bottom.

Kyle looked at Caryl and asked, "Do you think either one of us will win?"

Caryl's response was to slap Kyle on the back and say, "All we can do is try our best! Of course, MY best will come up the best."

From a far corner of the room came a shout, "Hey! Kyle, over here!" the young trainer looked around, and eventually spotted Dori.

Kyle pointed out their associate from Slateport Conference and Caryl grinned and waved back before both went over there.

"Where's ToyAgumon?" Caryl asked almost immediately of the lady in front of her.

Dori smiled and said, "She's off making sure that everyone else gets a good seat. Wouldn't want them to miss the show we're about to put on."

Kyle chuckled and asked, "You thought of everything, didn't you?"

An orange-haired girl then wandered by and looked at Kyle, scrutinizing him. Dori sweatdropped and asked, "Can I help you?" Kyle and Caryl turned around and looked at the young woman behind them.

"It's nothing, really. Just some basic curiosity about who my opponents are." The young lady said with a genuine smile.

Caryl grinned and said, "Well, that's just great, you sheila. But… who are you?"

She shook her head and then asked herself, "Where are my manners?" She then held out her hand to shake Caryl's and said, "My name is Zoey. I'm one of the Coordinators you will be facing in this competition."

Dori blinked, and then she asked, "Aren't you one of the more famous coordinators from the Sinnoh region?"

Zoey looked at Dori and nodded lightly. "That's right. I decided to check this region's competition out. Though, I am slightly disappointed that it isn't as advanced as the Super Contests."

A purple-haired man sat nearby, listening in on the conversation. Upon hearing that Zoey was a good Coordinator, and thus good competition, he thought to himself, ~You might think that our conferences aren't as fancy as yours, but you'll soon find out they're just as hard…~

As the conversation continued for a couple minutes more, Zoey eventually asked Kyle rather bluntly, "Are you a contest trainer exclusively, or do you perform regular battling too?"

Kyle had to give the honest answer to that question. "I do dabble in contests while training to face the Gym Leaders, yes."

This caused a small anger vein to appear on Zoey's head. "There's nothing that annoys me more than someone who can't make up their mind as to what they want to do."

Kyle asked, "Does it really make that much of a difference? Either way, one grows closer to their Pokémon. And one can find new ways of enhancing themselves physically and mentally."

Zoey's response was a bit more emphatic than her last one was. "But, be that as it may, it causes a load of confusion for your Pokémon when they don't know what to train for."

Kyle was becoming annoyed by the talk from the outsider, and it showed in his voice. "Well, I say that there's no harm in doing all you can to enhance the relationship with your Pokémon!"

After several moments of glaring, both would turn away from one another. Caryl, meanwhile, shook her head and mumbled, 'You two are worse than an old married couple.'

Kyle would return this statement with a glare right into the back of Caryl's head. She, naturally, was oblivious. Dori snickered lightly as she went back to work brushing her Skitty, knowing fully well that Zoey would have been equally annoyed with her.

Zoey began to walk back to her corner, but began to hear some things which made her a bit worried. "You hear about that guy who got knocked out?" a random male voice asked.

"Yeah. Had to be carried in last night by some other people and is still sleeping in the Pokémon Center," a random female voice replied.

A third voice chimed in, "I hope he's all right; wouldn't want anyone to end up hurt out here."

Zoey immediately began to think it might have something to do with the man she was looking for since arriving here. But, she couldn't let that break her concentration on the task at hand.

The first person was called up toward the stage moments later. "Paula, please head to the stage for your Appeal Round now."

A young woman answered the call and went up into the tunnel leading to the main stage.

"Well, it's begun. Now, we wait for our turns, and try to do the best we can when they come." Dori observed. She continued to brush down Skitty.

Kyle and Caryl got back into competitive mode and went to opposite corners. Kyle prepared Taillow for his second Contest, while Caryl did the same with Cyndaquil.

-Meanwhile, out in the arena-

ToyAgumon was listening to the accounts of what was going on from Casey and Ryo, while Josh remained quiet… and acted as ToyAgumon's seat, as she'd refused to get off of Josh's back on account of the fact that she'd be too short to see the action otherwise.

"So that's why James is with us now." Ryo concluded after telling the story of the last few weeks.

ToyAgumon looked at the purple-headed trainer and asked, "Is that right? You helped these guys out, even at the expense of your friends on Team Rocket?"

James sighed and then nodded, still thinking about the two of them.

ToyAgumon thought on this for only a second, and then admitted, "When I first met you guys, you really didn't seem all that bad. And now we can see that you're not!"

Casey grumbled and added, "I know some people who'd argue otherwise."

The crowd gasped as the Coordinator's efforts went awry, and the Pokémon in the arena fell to the ground.

The four trainers, and ToyAgumon, looked into the arena for just a moment before beginning to learn about what Dori had been doing in these last six weeks or so since they'd last met.

She'd been to Dewford Island and received the Knuckle Badge from Brawly, and after some deliberation, she'd decided to hold off facing Lavaridge Gym until she'd come to and competed in this Conference.

It was about this time that Josh chose to speak his first words since arriving in the arena. "I could never do something like this."

ToyAgumon blinked and looked down at her 'steed'. "And just what makes you say that?"

Josh's response was plain and simple. "This sort of competition requires a very creative mind. And as Ryo will tell you, that's something I don't exactly possess."

Ryo didn't respond to this particular comment, knowing very well that it really didn't matter what he said in response.

Their conversation would continue for another few minutes until the next competitor came out. "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage Harley and his Pokémon, Cacturne."

There was some general applause as the purple-haired man came out. James was the first to say, "He's dressed almost like a Cacturne himself."

This was a fact which escaped no one, and Casey pointed out, "He probably does that on purpose. Creates a sort of synergy if you use the same Pokémon and all that stuff."

Ryo blinked and asked, "Did you come up with that on your own?"

Casey shrugged and responded, "Sounded like it made sense."

There was little argument with that statement as Harley called out, "Go, Cacturne!" The intimidating evolved version of Cacnea flew out. Josh pulled out Pokédex to scan the creature on the floor, knowing that James would also want to hear this.

"Cacturne, the Scarecrow Pokémon. If a traveler is going through a desert in the middle of the night, Cacturne will follow in a ragtag group. They are waiting for the traveler to tire out." Dex chirped out from its database.

Josh sweatdropped and then said, "Yeesh. Even the Pokédex entry sounds intimidating."

James nodded and added, "That sounds more like something Jess would have."

Ryo added the remark, "Except hers wouldn't be clingy like yours is, James."

If Cacnea had been out, and had the ability to talk, she probably would have said something like, "I resemble that remark!"

As it stood, everyone had a bit of a laugh, and then watched Harley below.

Harley stood behind his Pokémon and said, "Today, I'm going to teach all of you a lesson. A practical use for your Pokémon."

After a pause meant for effect more than anything, he commanded, "Cacturne, use Cotton Spore!" The large cactus obliged Harley and shot out a cloud of spores, shooting them upward into the sky.

When the spores were on their way back down into the arena, Harley yelled out, "Now, use Cut and slash each spore in half!" A moment later, Cacturne was doing just that, leaping through the air and slashing these spores into pieces, creating a cloud of pure cotton. It took several leaps to nail them all, but that showed tenacity on the part of the Pokémon.

The crowd was impressed with the work so far, but it was about to get better. Harley yelled out, "Cacturne, finish the job with Needle Arm!"

As each individual piece of cotton came down, Cacturne punched out, attaching each piece to a specific place on his arm. It was another process with took about 30 seconds to complete, but when it was, the result was plain for everyone to see: sleeves for a shirt of some kind.

Harley boasted proudly, "It's a good way to let your Pokémon into even more aspects of your life."

After a moment of stunned silence, the audience began to politely applaud, not quite sure what to make of the strange man with the strange routine. The judges did have a much better idea, and conferred with one another about the score.

"It was a very interesting approach, using an intimidating Pokémon in a non-intimidating way. But, does that really play to the Pokémon's strengths, Harley?" The head judge inquired.

Harley thought about it, and then smirked and said, "I think it does rather nicely. Three out of the four moves in Cacturne's arsenal were utilized. Sure, it might have taken awhile to teach him how to do it without seeming frightening, but I think I did a good job."

After a further half-minute of conferring, they came to a decision, voiced by the head judge. "The grooming was good, and the routine was OK. But, also consider playing to Cacturne's strengths a bit more. Still, it is worth an 7.7."

More applause came from the audience as Harley retreated Cacturne from the arena and left the floor. Inside, he wasn't happy about the relatively low scores. ~Only an 7.7? Pah! With this kind of field here, that could be trouble… unless, of course, I make sure I get in the Top 8…~

He walked off, still scheming in his head.

-20 minutes later-

Following a couple more appeals which were, strictly speaking, okay, next up was a figure which the Destined Coordinators had just met inside of the 'Green Room'.

"Please welcome to the stage Zoey!" the announcer said as the orange-haired lady walked out onto the stage. The audience was generally more excited for Zoey, some people having heard of her prowess in Sinnoh.

In fact, several people who were sitting around the Destined sitting out this conference began mumbling, "What's someone like her doing here?"

"I thought she'd still be in Sinnoh," another person said to the first.

Casey looked down into the arena, as Josh, Ryo and James looked at each other. "Maybe we'll get to see an entirely new species of Pokémon." Ryo thought out loud.

"The chances of that have got to be pretty good," James added to the conversation.

"And because of that fact, she might score higher… or lower, depending on how these judges feel about 'international' Pokémon." Josh concluded with as much authority as a non-creative mind could muster.

Zoey, meanwhile, was taking in the accolades of the people in the stands. "Thank you, thank you." She was also looking for that person in the stands, though she hid this during her initial response to their applause.

"For my appeal today, I will be using one prop. A block of foam," it was brought into the arena following this observation. "With the help of my beloved partner, today we shall craft for you a statue."

It was an unusual idea for an appeal, to say the least, but it was definitely within the rules.

"Now… go, Glameow!" A tiny cat with a spiral tail appeared in the arena with a simple meow.

Josh pulled out his Pokédex and said, "Never seen that kind of Pokémon before."

Dex scanned the Pokémon in question before chirping out, "No Data."

Josh sweatdropped, then observed, "I forgot, I don't have data for Sinnoh on this."

James regarded Glameow. "I think Jess would like it." he commented, a tad sadly.

-Elsewhere in Hoenn-

Jessie sneezed, and then groaned loudly. Weavile looked up and asking, "Ya think yer comin' down wit' somethin'?"

Jessie shook her head, "I don't think so. I think someone's talking about me." She then shook her head again and asked, "Why did the Boss send us away from chasing those miserable twerps?!"

Weavile shook his own head and then reminded her, "Don't forget. We're not in charge here. So, we should just wait. Our chance will come soon enough."

Both Rockets wandered onward shortly after this conversation came to an end.

-Back at Fallarbor Conference-

"Glameow, use Shadow Claw!" the command came from Zoey.

The small kitten charged forward, paw becoming engulfed in ghostly energy. But, hiding just off-stage was someone with a tiny mirror. That person had calculated everything from the start, and was waiting for his chance.

Large chunks of foam fell off the block and surrounded the remaining larger block following the initial trim-down.

"Now, use Fury Swipes to shape it right!" Glameow nodded and lunged at the statue.

That was just the moment the man off-stage was waiting for. He shined the mirror off the lights in just such a way as to blind Glameow's vision for a mere second before backing off again.

That second was just enough to knock off Glameow's target and instead of slashing into the foam, she crashed into the block and fell back to the ground. The crowd was quite surprised to see such a talented coordinator have such a bad showing.

No one had seen the mirror or the owner of the mirror, so there was nothing to go on but Glameow's failure to achieve the ends which Zoey had set out. "It was a valiant effort, but practice up before you come to another conference. Your score is a 5.0."

The crowd began to boo the judges, not expecting them to be quite that harsh. Josh had to cover his ears as Zoey recalled Glameow and moved off the stage.

Backstage, Harley could hear the disapproval coming from the crowd and smirked to himself, revealing the tiny mirror only to himself and no one else. ~That's one down.~

-30 minutes later-

Following some more appeals, it was finally time for someone who they knew about already. "Please welcome the next contestant, Kyle!" There was some good applause for him as he came out. Josh, Casey and Ryo were much more animated about it. ToyAgumon waved at Kyle from Josh's back, and Kyle could see it, causing a light sweatdrop.

"Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Without further ado, I will present a sight some of you might be familiar with: snow." Kyle stated with pride. He then pulled out his Poké Ball and yelled, "Come on out, Taillow!" The tiny bird flew out of its Poké Ball and flew in the middle of the arena.

Harley frowned and watched. ~This kid won the Slateport Conference… but interfering with this kid might prove to be a problem.~ He had planned to use the mirror trick again, but that would prove to be a bit of a problem, for it was much harder to reflect light on a flying object.

"What do you think he can do for an encore?" Casey asked her three comrades.

"Whatever it is, it's got to be more creative than what he did back at Slateport Conference if he wants to get through." Ryo observed.

"I hope he does get through. I wouldn't want to miss an opportunity." ToyAgumon mused.

Josh looked up and asked semi-sarcastically, "And give up the seat you already have?"

ToyAgumon thought about this for a moment as Kyle began his routine.

"Taillow, fly into the air and use Double Team!" Kyle commanded his friend.

Taillow flew directly into the center of the arena, and then used the attack, creating a number of illusory clones to create a circle above the arena floor. Not exactly an impressive feat on its own, but it was part of a combination, as most appeals were.

"Taillow, begin to spin!" the next command came from below. The circle of Taillow began to spin at a rate which made it very difficult to tell who was real, and who was an illusion; a key factor of Kyle's third move in this appeal.

He said, "Taillow, let's show them what Steel Wing can do!"

Taillow's response was to turn its wings to steel, and then begin to flap them rapidly. The result were little flecks of steel flying off Taillow's wings, and fluttering toward the ground below, like the ashy snow of Route 113.

Because they were rotating at such a high speed, it looked like all 6 of the Taillow were simultaneously creating this show, which was a very nice illusion.

After about 30 seconds of this, Taillow finally came down and landed on Kyle's shoulder, ending the appeal. The audience clapped loudly for Kyle's prowess, showing on the forefront once again.

Harley clearly wasn't happy about having to let a good trainer through, but thought about it another way. ~There's nothing he can bring to the competition that I can't shake off. All I've gotta do is find some dirt…~ He slunk off, aiming to prepare himself for his competition.

Meanwhile, Kyle stepped up while the judges deliberated on the score. After a minute, the head judge delivered their decision. "That was an excellent example of using the natural talents of a Pokémon to their advantage. Even though Steel Wing is not a natural move for that Pokémon, it seems completely natural in your Pokémon's hands. Therefore, your score is a 9.5." The crowd cheered for the score, and Kyle bowed to the crowd one more time before leaving the arena behind.

Backstage, Zoey was still trying to figure out where it all went wrong for Glameow. ~It makes no sense… we've done that routine a thousand times. Did the crowd get to her?~

Caryl and Dori were still preparing for their opening round routines, remaining entirely in "game mode", even when they congratulated Kyle on his success out on stage.

-30 minutes later-

Following a few more appeals, some good, and some with some stumbles, Caryl was the next figure familiar to the Digidestined out into the arena. Harley, who was still standing in the shadows, saw very little threat from the young Kiwi. ~She's the same person who nearly choked an audience at Slateport, at least that's what the report on the Conference says. Someone like that is of little threat to me.~

Caryl walked out onto the stage, and had only polite applause to greet her. Not that she could blame them, after her act back at Slateport. She smirked as she walked out. ~I'm gonna make all of these blokes forget about Slateport.~

She walked out to the middle of the stage and announced rather confidently, "Today, I'm going to give you a spectacle you won't forget!"

Ryo looked at Josh and Casey and remarked, "Better be ready to cover your mouths." James really didn't need to be filled in on the debacle at Slateport. He was there as much as the others were.

Caryl pulled out one Poké Ball and then tossed it in the air. "Time to come out, Cyndaquil!" The small fire mouse Pokémon appeared on the field a moment later with its familiar cry. She'd thrown the Poké Ball so that Cyndaquil ended up on the edge of the arena for a reason.

"Use Defense Curl, Cyndaquil!" Caryl commanded in her usual pep.

Cyndaquil responded with equal speed, rolling into a ball. Needless to say, by itself, it wasn't exactly impressive. James blinked and asked, "What is she thinking of doing?"

Everyone had their own separate image of what Caryl's over-ambitious plan. Ryo's thoughts turned toward soccer, Josh's toward basketball, and Casey, naturally, gravitated toward baseball. All of which would have been terrible ideas. James' thought was even worse than all of those, though, trying to balance on Cyndaquil as a ball.

However, none of those ideas were what Caryl had in mind. She waited for a few moments, a very meaningful pause, before announcing, "Time to go for a spin, Cyndaquil! Use Flame Wheel!"

Much to everyone's surprise, Cyndaquil revved up for a few seconds, like a Sonic wannabe, before charging off in a way that made it circle the arena over and over again. All the while, it left behind a trail of flames, creating a literal hoop of flames to surround the arena, and Caryl.

The judges, however, were waiting to see if anything was going to go wrong with this approach, because riding the arena's edge was admittedly dangerous if Cyndaquil went off the mark even by an inch.

Luckily, after a solid 45 seconds or so of this act, Caryl called out, "Time to leap into the air and finish this off!" Five seconds after this command went into effect, Cyndaquil bounced into the air in such a way as to land directly in Caryl's arms, just as the flames began to die out.

In complete shock over the visual appeal of the combination, the crowd took a few seconds before they cheered, including the 3 Destined.

And in light of this, the judges had to reconsider their decision about their scores. Clearly, the crowd wanted to see more of her in the next round.

Backstage, Harley's jaw had essentially dropped to the ground, and he was in shock. ~How on earth did a goofball like that come up with such a killer routine?~

After some careful consideration, the head judge looked at Caryl with a smile. "That was a fantastic routine. Some people can make high-risk maneuvers pay off, and you're clearly one of them."

Caryl gave a thumbs-up to the judges and boasted, "Cyndaquil really gave it heaps!" Of course, while the exact meaning was lost on the judges, the tone of her voice told them that she thought the exact same thing about the performance of the Pokémon.

"We're proud to give you a 9.1 for your performance. You'll definitely be moving on to the next round!" The crowd cheered the young Kiwi, who gave off some peace signs to the crowd before bounding off the arena floor.

Backstage, Harley was grumbling to himself, and wondering exactly where such an inspired idea came from. Caryl walked right by the 'Cacturne man', oblivious to his brooding.

And shortly after walking past, Harley shook his head rapidly. ~It doesn't matter that she's in the next round. Everyone has their weakness, and I need to find hers.~ After a further few seconds, the smirk returned to his face, ~I need to stay focused, because there are plenty of opportunities to come.~

-15 minutes later-

A Coordinator actually had to be wheeled off the stage after his Pokémon, Magneton, mysteriously fell out of the sky and right on its trainer, zapping him with Thundershock at the same time.

"A lot of really strange things are happening here, aren't they?" Casey asked, although it wasn't really a question at all.

"Yeah… maybe it's the environment. Fallarbor is hardly like the cities to the south of here." Ryo observed, still looking down at the spectacle.

Josh added, "Or maybe it's simply nervousness which would be generated by competing at one's first major competition."

Of course, it was none of these things. Or, at least, none of these things were the major contributing factor. Just underneath the arena floor was a powerful magnet which was being removed by Harley at that moment before he snuck back out of the tunnel under the arena.

There was little time to get distracted, though, as another major competitor got set to enter the arena. "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Drew!" A loud round of applause would greet the well-known Coordinator to the stage.

"Didn't he make it to the Battle Round at Slateport?" Josh asked Ryo directly.

Ryo nodded and said, "Things just got a bit harder for our friends in the Conference."

Drew brought out his signature rose and sniffed it dramatically before he said, "Today, I plan to do more than just bring a lovely Pokémon like Roselia into this competition. Today, I plan to give you a terrific lightshow."

The many female fans in the audience swooned a little bit when they saw Drew. Except, of course, for Casey. She was more interested in others to begin with anyway.

After a few more seconds of this, Drew said with a supreme confidence, "Now, we'll show you what we're made of!" He threw a Poké Ball, and his oversized Roselia appeared on the field.

Roselia's positioning was right in the middle of the field, as Drew continued to exude his confident aura. "Now, Roselia, let's give them a show. Use Solarbeam at the ceiling!"

The response was, needless to say, spectacular, as Roselia charged up, and then fired at the ceiling. But, Drew was so good at training his Pokémon that he was able to train Roselia to use just enough energy to reach the ceiling, but not enough to damage it in the least.

A series of 'oohs' and 'ahhs' would follow from the crowd, who were naturally impressed with the lightshow; but the best was yet to come, for Drew had another plan up his sleeve.

"Roselia, it's time to turn this show into a true work of beauty. Use Petal Dance now!" Roselia began to spin while staying surprisingly in place, spreading petals which began to climb the pillar of light, adding a double helix of petals to the spectacle already created by the beam.

After about 45 seconds of this, though, Roselia suddenly tripped on something, and fell, the Solar Beam falling on part of the audience. Fortunately, Roselia had used so little energy to make the beam that those hit by it only recieved a quick tan.

The head judge shook his head and said, "A good attempt," he admitted, "And very beautiful... but after that slip, I can't give you any more than a 5.5..." The crowd once more booed the judge's score and he paused, reconsidering. "Ok, 6.5, but no more than that!"

"That sounds quite fair. Thank you. " Drew replied.

As he and Roselia went off the stage, though, Drew would discover the source of his Pokémon's peril… a tiny pebble which appeared to have been laid there on the stage.

He raised an eyebrow, and took it, but didn't say anything to the judges, fearing that saying something without any definitive proof would look like he was trying to find an excuse for this performance.

As he walked off, he began to think, ~A lot of the top Coordinators are all going down at the same time… it has to be more than just a coincidence!~

-10 minutes later, Pokémon Center-

A groan came from the sleeping room inside the Center, as Alan, naked under the sheets, was finally beginning to wake up. "Uuuuh... When am I?" Clearly, he still had a darkness-induced headache from the night before, as evidenced by the hand which he used to rub his forehead.

He looked around, and saw that everyone was gone already. "They couldn't possibly have left me behind…" He then looked at the clock, and realized it was midday already. "Damn! I overslept! They must be at the Conference already!" He blinked. "It IS the day or the Conference, isn't it?"

:_Yes, Alan._:

Alan turned to see Kendrix perched beside his bed and smiled in relief. "I'm glad you're alright." he said, cradling her head with one hand. "Did Nurse Joy check you out?"

:_Yes, she did._: Kendrix confirmed, adding :_James brought me here_:

Alan nodded. "Good for him."

:_Quite. The Hyper Beam caught me by surprise, but Nurse Joy says there was no permanent damage_:

"Thank God." Alan's face twisted, his eyes shifting to black and green. "If you'd died, even Ryo wouldn't have stopped me killing that bitch."

:_Alan._: Kendrix said sharply.

Alan paused, the last moment or so reprocessing in his head. There was a mirror in the room and Alan saw his reflection in it. "Whoa." he murmured, transfixed. "That's... that's cool."

Kendrix frowned, watching her trainers mind. :_Are you alright?_:

There was a pause. "Yeah.... Yeah I think I'm holding it together." Even as he said this, Alan watched his eyes revert to normal. "The change isn't holding. I guess that's a good sign."

:_Yes. Though Caryl isn't in the room, so possibly that is not a true test._:

"Quite." Alan noted, feeling slightly proud of himself for not flaring up again at the mere mention of the name. He blinked at a sudden memory... a memory of a large dinosaur on fire. "Ah... How's Tommy?"

:He's fine.: Kendrix assured Alan as the boy started to get dressed. :All of the darkness came from you and none exists in him.:

"Good to know." Alan said, then frowned. "Hang on. Was it Darkness or Shadow energy? I have a vague memory of bleeding purple smoke."

:_I wouldn't know, I was unconscious._: Kendrix. pointed out dryly. :_Besides, it is not my field of expertise._:

Alan nodded as he finished dressing. As he put his jacket on, he felt the connecting presence of... two Digi-Eggs. "Wha?" He blinked and quickly fished out his D-Terminal. "Don't tell me Caryl..." he flicked through the Digi-Eggs. "Courage..." he mutttered, passing over the various dormant ones, "Loyalty... where's Light?" He started scrolling back the other way, more slowly. This time, he saw it. "Phew..." he frowned, realizing it wasn't active "It's gone dormant?"

:... perhaps you have too much Darkness in you?: Kendrix ventured.

"Makes sense." Alan sighed. "Well, that's just _prime_. Another Digital Power I can't use. And that was the healing one." His mouth quirked, and he released the Egg, holding it in his hands. "Maybe we can give it to Kyle."

Kendrix hesitated. :Alan... about Casey.:

_That_ did it. Alan's eyes widened as the memory hit and he all but snarled. The change was more distinct this time, Alan's clothes bleaching to black. He raised his right hand, still holding the D-Terminal, as he turned on Kendrix, right arm pulling back as if preparing to strike Kendrix... then he froze. "No..." The D-Terminal and Digi-Egg of Light fell from his hands as Alan curled up on himself, panting heavily, other parts of his personality fighting the Darkness for control.

:_I... I'm sorry._: Kendrix said, shocked at the strength of the reaction she'd caused. : _I didn't mean to strike a nerve._:

Alan looked at her. "Just... just don't go there, ok?"

:_Ok._:

Some part of Alan's brain threw upon a mental image and he seized it, focussing on it. During a few moments that felt like a minute, his breathing becaume more and more controlled as he managed to calm himself, his appearance reverting back to normal. A moment later, Alan clutched both sides of his head. "Aaand that's just made this headache worse. Bugger."

:_Maybe Nurse Joy has some painkillers?_: Kendrix suggested.

"Let's hope so." Alan grumbled, picking up his Digi-Egg and returning it to the D-Terminal.

:_Alan?_:

"Hmm?"

:_Why, just now, were you imagining Dori naked?_: Kendrix asked, amused.

"Don't knock it if it works." Alan retorted, grinning sheepishly.

:Pervert: Kendrix chided playfully.

"You say that like that's news." Alan retorted, then smiled. "You good to Fly?"

:Definately.:

A few minutes later, they was on the move, Alan collecting his Pokemon (which included offering tender apologies to Tommy for "SkullGreying" him), thanking Nurse Joy for the room and some ibuprofen, and then leaving the Pokemon Center behind, Alan getting on Kendrix as they took off for the Contest Hall, Alan hoping he wasn't too late to catch the action.

-30 minutes later, Fallarbor Contest Hall-

Most of the remaining Coordinators were very cautious with their efforts, having been spooked off of performing more complex routines by the frequency with which the opponents were faltering.

And normally, such safe routines wouldn't be rewarded with appearances in the Battle Round, but with such a lack of quality routines, they really didn't have a choice.

Of course, the other result of that was a general malaise throughout the audience, as they were waiting for someone to do something unusual.

As it happened, though, there was no fear of any sort of sabotage. Harley was off by himself, looking for information he could use in the Battle Round… which bode well for Dori, who was the last Coordinator to come out in the Appeal Round.

Out in the arena, ToyAgumon had been counting the contestants who had come out before, and then smiled. "This one has got to be Dori! There's no one else left!"

This statement perked Josh up ever so slightly. "Are you sure about that?"

ToyAgumon nodded, "I'm positive! There's only 16 contestants total, and 15 have come out!"

Casey yawned and said, "Well, maybe she'll do something spectacular."

The announcer then began his introduction of the last Coordinator. "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage… Dori!" Like with Caryl, there was a very polite round of applause, but little emphasis of any excitement at all.

Unlike with Caryl, it was due to the acts which preceded her, and not due to her reputation from an earlier conference.

Dori waved to the crowd, as ToyAgumon waved back to her, indicating the position of the remaining Digidestined to her. She shook her head when she spied ToyAgumon perched on Josh.

"Today, I plan to show you something new and unusual. For that, I need the help of my partner." She pulled out her Poké Ball and then threw it out with the call, "Let's go, Skitty!"

The tiny pink cat appeared on the field with a meow. Dori called out, confident in her partner's ability, "Use Assist now!"

As usual, using Assist was a bit of a risk, for it automatically called upon one attack from any of Dori's other creatures. Luckily, as it was in Slateport, Assist resulted in a Toy Flame shooting into the air.

This time, though, Dori was ready with a different combination than the last time. "Use Ice Beam, Skitty!" the young trainer commanded.

Skitty shot the Ice Beam upward into the air, intercepting the Toy Flame before it hit the ground again. The result was easy to see: a frozen Lego flame.

Very quickly, Dori yelled out, "Use Doubleslap now!" Skitty's response saw her shoot up into the air, and paw at the block several times in mid-air. Its claws did make incisions on the face of the block itself, which was nice. The end result, though, was very strange indeed.

The flame broke apart, shattering into numerous tiny cubes of ice, perfect for use in a drink, except with some toy blocks inside.

What was even more surprising, though, was the reaction of this action. As the blocks fell to the ground, the warmth inside the Toy Flame itself reacted with the water, and began to melt and evaporate rapidly.

So, just 15 seconds later, Skitty found herself surrounded by liberated Legos all around her. The crowd, having seen its first real act since Caryl's, went berserk, glad to have had any excitement at all.

Dori walked over to Skitty, picked her up, and then began to pet her as she waited for the results of her appeal.

It didn't take long for the judges to reach a consensus. "I think we can all agree that appeal of yours was completely unique, and unlike anything I've ever seen before. Bravo. An 8.5," more cheers came from the crowd came as she walked off, Skitty in hand instead of in Poké Ball.

Ryo whistled from his spot and clapped aggressively. "She did very well, there. Finally able to work this crowd back up again."

Josh had covered his ears in the meanwhile, and commented, "Maybe a bit too well, Ryo…"

James had a different take on the noise factor. "When it's loud, it means someone really likes her work. So, every Coordinator loves it loud."

It was a good, valid point, which surprised Casey. "Did you take some smart pills before you came in here today?"

James shook his head, and then smiled. "I'm just being me."

-10 minutes later-

The judges compiled their scores, compared stats, and prepared their ranking for the first round. The 16 competitors watched from backstage, knowing that half of them were about to be eliminated.

The MC began to announce, "I have the results, and the brackets heading into the Battle Round. So, listen up, everyone…"

He looked over the sheet, just to assure he didn't botch someone's name or something. "In first place is Kyle with 9.5!" Kyle resisted the urge to get excited for being in first, knowing from his experience at Slateport that the battle had just begun.

"In second place is Caryl with a 9.1!" Caryl didn't resist the urge nearly as well as Kyle had, jumping up and down in complete and total excitement. After all, she'd lost out in the Appeal back at Slateport, so Kyle and Dori couldn't blame her. Still, it made her look like the amateur she was at this format, and caused veterans like Zoey to sweatdrop.

"In third place is Dori with an 8.5!" Dori clapped for herself, but then began to pet Skitty again. "It's all because of you and ToyAgumon that we've made it this far, Skitty. Thank you." Skitty curled up against Dori and meowed.

The next two competitors were no-names who had earned scores of 8.3 and 8.1 for very safe performances. Their names were Mary, with assistance from Buneary, and Paul with Pachirisu. ( No, not that Paul. He'd never go for this sort of thing anyway.- Ed)

They would face one another in the next round. Dori's first opponent would be Iris, a lady who scored an 8.0 for her performance with a Skarmory. She knew that would be challenging, but with Flamethrower, she stood a chance against the Steel-type flier.

Caryl's first round opponent would be Harley, a match-up Caryl was personally loving, since Cacturne would be at a disadvantage against Cyndaquil. Harley personally didn't mind, though, for he had a trick waiting up his sleeve for the young Kiwi.

And finally, Kyle's first-round match-up was against Samantha, a relative rookie who had followed Zoey here. Her Pokémon was an Aipom, something Kyle was familiar with from his time in Johto.

The eight trainers who'd advanced looked at one another, each trying to gauge their opponent, in anticipation of the Battle Round. For the remaining eight, it was time to head home and begin preparations for the next Conference, or stick around and watch the action.

Drew chose neither of these options, certain in his head that things were going wrong for a reason. A reason he was determined to find out about. He tore out of the Green Room, and began to look around the Stadium for anything he could find.

Meanwhile, Zoey was preparing to do the former option and head home, not sure what went wrong. But a chance meeting at the front door… which was more like the two of them running into one another… changed everything.

As Zoey looked up, she would see the man she had been trying to find ever since arriving here… Alan. After several seconds of groaning and rubbing of heads, she blushed as she said, "Fancy meeting you here, Alan."

Alan looked up, saw Zoey, and then immediately began to get up, helping Zoey to do the same. "I'm so sorry about that. I was in a hurry because I was afraid I was going to miss the Conference."

Zoey's response was pretty simple, "You did miss the Appeal Round, but the Battle Round still remains…" Her voice seemed to suggest that maybe the two of them should hang out together.

Alan wouldn't have thought anything more about that, until his mind wandered to the entire reason why he had been late in the first place: because of Caryl's immature prank. And he didn't want to see Casey at that point either.

Besides, how often did he run into old friends? "You know what, let's go watch the Battle Round together."

Excited, Zoey led him off to a good spot to watch, and grab a bite to eat. As they did, Alan remarked. "I haven't seen you since the Silver Conference. Of course, back then you were about two foot shorter..."

Narrator: Well, it seems a lot is going on here at Fallarbor Conference! Alan and Zoey have hit it off, ToyAgumon continues to enjoy her perch, and all of the Digidestined advanced to the Battle Round. But, what plans do the evil Harley have for our heroes, and who will walk away with the prestigious Fallarbor Ribbon?

Next Time: The Battle for Fallarbor continues, as the battles become more intense with each passing round. But, with Harley there, and with seemingly every emotional weapon in his arsenal, he seems to be a lock for the win. Will Drew uncover the truth in time? Find out as the first half of this season concludes on the next Episode of Digicross Advanced!


	16. RoD 16: Battle for Fallarbor, Pt 2

Narrator: On our last episode, the Appeal Round of Fallarbor Conference took place. But, it wasn't without its hiccups, largely due to a man named Harley, who is willing to do whatever it takes to come out victorious. With Drew now on the outside looking in, will he be able to discover Harley's sabotage before it comes to fruition? Find out next!

Digicross Advanced Episode 46: "The Battle for Fallarbor – Part 2"

Episode written by Josh Johannesen, Alan Wilkinson, and Trey Miller

During the 20 minute break between the Appeal Round and the Battle Round, many of the people in the stands filed out either to get some food, or use the restroom. In that way, it was much like it was during halftime or intermission of any good sporting event back in the Human World.

It was no surprise that Josh (with ToyAgumon still riding on his back), James, Casey and Ryo were exercising the same right. Of course, it might have been for no other reason than to stretch and get a majority of the Appeal Round out of their heads.

As they passed a food stand, everyone would look over and see a very strange sight indeed… Alan having lunch with Zoey.

Upon noticing this, a group sweatdrop occurred, as everyone watched Zoey flirting lightly with Alan.

"So… what exactly happened to you? I would have thought you'd be there early." Zoey asked of her friend sitting across the table.

Alan took a bite of his food, wincing at the question. "It's a long, very unpleasant story." he said simply.

Across the way, Casey was seething inside, and began to stomp over to the table. However, it seemed that Alan had anticipated this from the get-go. "Excuse me." he told Zoey, getting up. Zoey blinked at the sudden chill in Alan's demeanor. Alan turned away, intercepting Casey halfway.

"Who the hell is she?" Casey demanded.

Alan growled. "Watch your tone." he snapped, his eyes shifting black and green. Casey gasped. Alan had caught the sound of his own voice and froze. As he tried to regain control of himself, he glanced down and realised his clothes hadn't changed. ~_Good sign?~_ he wondered.

Josh, James and Ryo saw Alan's eyes change and quickly moved to join the conversation. "Um... hi, Alan." ToyAgumon ventured.

"Hi, ToyAgumon," Alan offered the Lego Digimon a humourless smile.

The others relaxed slightly as they saw Alan's eyes return to normal. Nonetheless, Ryo felt he had to ask. "Are you alright?"

Alan nodded slowly, "Holding together... barely."

Casey looked over. "She's hot." she remarked, which did not settle the feelings of jealousy that were filling her.

James and Josh exchanged glances, mouthing 'Hot?' at each other. Meantime, Alan glanced back towards Zoey, then turned back to address Casey. "She's a friend from a couple of years back. She was watching the Silver Conference..." Alan shrugged.

"Have you told her you already have a girlfriend?" Casey asked sourly.

"It hasn't come up." Alan frowned. "Look, she's a friend who happens to be a girl, that's all." Comprehension dawned. "You really don't trust me, do you?"

_~I don't trust you with any girl __**I**__ want to fuck.~_ Casey thought, but she managed not to say it. However, she was unable to keep the expression from her face. .

Alan sighed. He'd been trying to wrestle with himself on something, but now the decision had made itself. "Then I'm not taking it back."

"What?" Casey asked. Alan met her gaze and Casey saw something much more terrible than rage. Alan looked.... disappointed. Comprehension dawned. "You're breaking up with me? I thought that was just..."

"...the Darkness talking?" Alan asked. "Well, this isn't any Evil Me talking. Just me. You and me? We're over."

Casey trembled, "But why?"

"Because you don't trust me," Alan said simply. "If you discount sex, I don't really ask much of our relationship, but as unspokens go, trust is a fairly big one. Never mind Zoey... you don't even trust me with Dori?"

Casey opened her mouth to respond, to tell him that what he'd heard had been something she'd told Caryl months ago.... then lowered her head as she realised the truth. "No, I don't." she admitted meekly.

Alan shook his head. "Didn't we already have this conversation? Do you _honestly _think I'd cheat on you with Dori? I thought you thought better of me than that."

"I'd have thought you'd have thought better of Dori than that." ToyAgumon grumbled. "She's really not that kind of girl."

"There's that, too." Alan noted. He reached up and cupped Casey's face in his hands, then kissed her on the lips, very briefly. "Casey, listen to me," he said, "if we're going to have the 'what are you doing with her' talk every time I go near a girl, one of us is going to end up strangling the other. Is that the kind of relationship you want?"

"No." Casey sniffed. "But... but don't you love me?"

Alan kissed her again, this time on the forehead, "I thought I did. Now... now I don't know what I felt."

Casey was devastated, and immediately ran out of the Fallarbor Contest Hall, tears in her eyes.

"That was painful to watch." Josh commented. James and ToyAgumon nodded agreement.

But Ryo had something else on his mind. "Alan?" he ventured.

"Hmm?" Alan responded.

"Do you think we should split up our party in two after this is all over?"

"That's not a bad idea." Alan replied. "I know that if I have to spend any more time near Caryl, I'm going to spend all of it wanting to kill her. Best if I keep away."

"And Casey?"

Alan shook his head. "I... I can't. It'd hurt too much."

James sweatdropped and then breathed out a mushroom-cloud sigh. "Great, I join up with you guys, and now we're breaking up."

Josh assured James, "I'm sure it's only temporary… until emotions die down."

"Might I suggest not using words like 'die' or 'kill' right now?" Ryo suggested to Josh quietly.

Alan chuckled sadly. "Alternately, if everyone else would rather stay together, I can just strike out on my own again."

"You sure?" Ryo asked.

"Yeah."

"Ok, we'd better go find Casey." Josh said. "You gonna be ok?"

"We'll see, I guess." Alan replied. As the other three walked off, Alan suddenly called, "Guys?"

"Yes?" Ryo asked.

Emotions warring inside himself, Alan forced himself to ask, "Look after her."

"We will." Ryo assured him.

As they walked away, Alan returned to the table. "What was that about?" Zoey asked.

Alan sighed at length. "That was me breaking up with my girlfriend… again."

"Oh." Zoey looked at Alan, worried. "I guess I caught you at a bad time?"

"Actually, you caught me the day after a terrible time." Alan smiled ruefully. "Like I said, it's a long, unpleasant story."

Zoey began to stand up. "Maybe I should go." she said.

"Don't you dare," Alan said, managing somehow to keep his tone light as he grabbed her hand, holding it gently as he met her gaze. "With our schedules, our lives, who knows when we'll run into each other again." He sighed. "Besides, I could really use some company right now that doesn't own a Digivice."

Zoey didn't know what a Digivice was, but she guessed, correctly, that Alan didn't want to be around his friends at the moment, but didn't want to be alone either. Well, she did want to spend more time with him...

"Ok." she said, sitting back down. She pointed at Alan's discarded sandwich. "Are you gonna eat that?"

"Damn right." Alan grinned. Zoey liked the grin.

-Meanwhile…-

Drew was sneaking about backstage, still convinced in his mind of the conspiracy theory which he'd concocted after Roselia lost control during her appeal. ~_I will find evidence of foul play, and then present it to the judges.~_ He was digging through bags, through boxes, and generally trying to act like he thought a secret agent would.

And chances were that he would have continued rummaging through useless junk, at least from his perspective, except for the fact that he began to hear the voice of Harley, just barely.

"You'd best throw this match, young lady… think of what could happen if news of your previous transgressions got out to the general public?"

Drew began to sneak in closer, so that he could hear a bit better. The voice of Harley's challenger, Caryl, sounded defiant, yet a bit frightened. "Y-You wouldn't dare, you bloke."

Drew listened carefully; quite sure this was going to be rather interesting.

-Back in the Arena-

The Battle Round was getting set to begin, as the audience once more took their seats surrounding the floor. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the second round of Fallarbor Conference, the Battle Round!" The crowd cheered, sure that now they were going to see some excitement.

"Our first match features the number one seed, Kyle, and the number eight seed, Samantha!" Both Kyle and a pink-haired female walked out of the tunnel. Kyle remained completely calm and waved to the fans, while Samantha, showing some of her rookie tendencies, was waving to the crowd to try and play them up. She didn't realize that they really didn't have any input as to the result of this round.

From the stands, Casey yelled out, "You can do it, Kyle! You won't get beat by a rookie!"

Kyle couldn't hear it that well, but he was slightly embarrassed that Casey was yelling out for him at all.

As both reached the center of the arena, Kyle offered his hand and said, "Good luck."

Samantha took it and smiled, "Thanks. Good luck to you too!"

After this gesture of sportsmanship, both took to their side of the battlefield. The MC then explained the rules for the Conference Battle Round. "There will be three minute rounds, after which a winner will be declared by judgment. Unless, of course, one or the other gets knocked out ahead of that; in which case the winner will be the last Pokémon standing."

It was something that regular Contest fans had heard a thousand times before, but still, there was the chance that there was a completely new person watching for the first time.

Shortly after this spiel was delivered, the MC announced enthusiastically, "So, without further ado, let the Battle Round begin!"

Kyle smiled and said, tossing out his Poké Ball, "Go, Taillow!" And out flew the tiny bird, taking its position in the air.

Samantha launched out her Poké Ball as well. "It's time to go, Aipom!" The monkey with a hand for a tail came out with a huge grin on its face.

Kyle snickered and noted, "I haven't seen one of those since the Johto region."

Samantha smiled and then said, "Let's have some fun here." She then delivered the first command of the match. "Use Swift now!" the star-shaped beam shot from Aipom's tail directly at Taillow.

Kyle commanded, "Taillow, fly high now!" Taillow knew what that command meant, and began to fly at high speed, not necessarily hoping to avoid the attack, which followed Taillow wherever in the arena it went, but to gain an advantage.

It worked to a certain extent, for when the attack finally impacted Taillow; he'd flown behind the enemy.

Kyle then commanded, "Use Quick Attack and give Aipom a spin!" Taillow literally blew past Aipom, a single wing clipping the monkey on the way past. Due to this, Aipom spun in place for a few seconds, making it dizzy.

In the stands, Ryo, Josh and James were very excited for their friend. "His skill level continues to improve." Josh stated.

Ryo nodded and smiled. "I really didn't think anyone could do this twice… but he might. Kyle might really be something special."

James nodded in agreement. "And, to think, I'll be right here to witness it."

Ryo added, "Provided, of course, those former friends of yours don't pull something out of their hats.

-Outside-

Casey was actually doing something she didn't think she would be doing: crying over a lost love. She didn't believe in that moment that garbage about it being better to have loved and lost than never loved at all.

"That stupid… idiot!" Casey randomly yelled at the top of her lungs, scaring a passer-by on the nearby road. "He has the audacity to dump me after all we'd been through?!"

After a few moments to think about it, Casey came to one conclusion. "I was a fool not to see it before. We never really loved each other! It was all a big… fat… LIE! Created by some British punk's libido!"

_~And what about __**your**__ libido?~_ an inner voice spoke up ~_You don't exactly have a great track record at keeping your panties on.~_

Deciding to ignore this treacherous thought, Casey stomped off from the arena to blow off some steam, not wanting to find herself anywhere near the location where her former lover was.

-Back inside the Arena-

The battle was just ending, even as Casey was leaving the area. "Taillow, let's finish off Aipom with Steel Wing!"

Taillow's wings shone a bright light, mostly as a reflection of the light in the arena, as he charged in and went through Aipom. A few seconds later, the monkey fainted on the spot, unable to recover from the beating earlier.

"Aipom is unable to battle." The referee on the floor announced as Aipom's portrait went dim.

"That's it! We have a winner of this match! Give it up for Kyle!" The MC shouted to the enthusiastic crowd.

The crowd cheered again for Kyle, and Josh had to once again cover his ears. Down below, Kyle walked over to Samantha and shook her hand. "Thank you… for an awesome battle." Kyle said in a very sincere voice.

Samantha could detect that sincerity and shook his hand as well. "You might have gotten us this time, but we will be back, and better than ever."

Kyle smiled back to the young woman and simply said, "I look forward to that day."

Both marched off the field to a good deal of applause, Taillow and Aipom back in their protective Balls.

-5 minutes later-

With Kyle having proven himself victorious, he got the chance to go rest back in the Green Room. He smiled and looked at the Poké Ball containing Taillow. "Only two more matches to go, and we'll be victorious. We'll have our second ribbon."

Up on stage, the second match of the quarterfinals was set to get underway. "Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to begin the second bout. And first into the arena is Mary!" The MC announced as a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl entered the arena, waving to the crowd as they cheered, still coming off the adrenaline high of the last match.

The MC then took the microphone again and stated, "And she'll be facing Paul!" A brown-haired, green-eyed trainer entered the arena next, smiling and generally taking in the moment. (Editor's Note: See? I told you it wasn't that Paul.)

Like Kyle and Samantha before them, Paul and Mary shook one another's hands and prepared to do battle.

After the official announcement of the beginning of Round Two, Paul called out his Pachirisu, while Mary called out her Buneary to do battle.

Both charged toward each other, Buneary to use Jump Kick, and Pachirisu using Spark.

-Back in the Green Room-

Harley smirked and looked at Caryl, having spent a few minutes going over the specifics of his information. "Do you really want to take the chance that I'm bluffing? Imagine the problems it could create; the stuff which could be destroyed."

The sound of his voice seemed to suggest that he knew the extent to which he could damage Caryl with the information he held in his hand, although he obviously couldn't have been exactly sure.

After a further 30 seconds of pause, she sighed and said, "Fine, have it your way."

Harley held onto the information, and held up a lighter to it, for dramatic effect. "Once I beat you, I'll burn this information. I'll have no use for it at that point." He smirked again, knowing very well that because of this, he would advance to the semi-finals.

In the shadows, Drew had seen enough. ~_That's it! I can't stand here and watch this anymore!_~ But, before he could act, he suddenly stopped and thought about it. ~_If he was ready for a relative unknown like Caryl, who knows what he would have in store for someone like me. That could be a complete and total disaster… but then… what?_~

At that moment, Caryl wandered off, preparing herself for her "doomed" run. Harley began to dig through his pack, and then realized something. ~_If Dori advances through to the semi-finals, I'll need something to convince her to back off…_~

Harley's eyes shifted over to the cheerful trainer whose match was up next; a fact which wasn't lost on the sneaky Drew. ~_Oh no… that must be his next target. I've got to keep my eye on him for now until I can prove what he's doing. If I go now, the judges might just think it a bunch of sour grapes and not take it seriously_.~

So, he decided, instead of overreacting, to remain hidden and try to prevent the second problem from occurring.

-Back in the Arena-

Pachirisu was very tired, having over-used it's speed while battling Buneary. Mary commanded, "Finish it off with another Jump Kick!"

With Pachirisu trying to catch its breath, Buneary jumped in, kicked Pachirisu in the head, and sent it flying out of the arena, fainted from pure exhaustion.

With a full minute still on the clock, the referee stated, "Pachirisu is unable to battle. The winner of this round is Mary and her Pachirisu!" The crowd cheered for her victory as Paul ran to Pachirisu's side.

"You did well, little buddy." Paul consoled his Pokémon.

Pachirisu simply said, "Pachi chi…" and then went to sleep. Paul recalled it a moment later.

Buneary, meanwhile, was hopping about the arena, quite excited for its partner's win. Mary was excited too, naturally. Paul left the arena after congratulating Mary on a good win.

A minute later, Mary would leave too, pleased to have even made it to the semi-finals.

In the stands, James simply observed, "Kyle will need to be at the top of his game to survive the semi-final."

Josh looked down and replied, "It's not him I'm worried about, if I'm honest. It's Caryl."

Ryo blinked and then asked, "Why? Alan's pretty much established that he won't go after her anymore."

Josh thought about it, and then he said, "I don't know… something about that guy she's facing in the quarter-final gives me the creeps."

Ryo pointed out, "Her match isn't until after the next one anyway. Just relax, all right?"

-5 minutes later-

Dori's match was next, and ToyAgumon was very excited. "Finally, it's time to see what Dori's really learned!"

The MC, as usual, had the call. "Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the third match. And first out is Dori!" Dori walked out onto the Arena floor. Unlike most other trainers, though, she had her Skitty walking alongside her, mewing happily at all the attention being lavished on the two of them.

"And next up is Iris!" A blue-haired trainer with equally blue eyes walked out, very concentrated on her foe, as she didn't even really acknowledge the crowd.

Iris walked to her side of the arena, and continued to remain very intense and concentrated on her foe, almost as if she were trying to see through Dori's very soul.

"Let the third match begin!" The MC announced as the crowd cheered.

Skitty bounded out onto the field without even so much as a word from Dori. Iris then pulled out her Poké Ball and announced, "Go, Skarmory," in a very low voice. The steel bird flew out a moment later before landing on the field across from the tiny cat.

Any casual observers thought that the tiny, cute cat was in big, ugly trouble. But those in the know, like the Digidestined, knew that this match was far from decided.

"Skitty, it's time to go! Use Ice Beam now!" Dori commanded her Pokémon.

Iris, in the same low voice, told her Pokémon, "Whirlwind." Skarmory reacted immediately and flapped its wings hard, creating a mini-tornado which blew toward Skitty.

Seeing this, Dori was quick to react, "Dodge to the side, and then use Doubleslap!" Skitty dodged to the side, and then flew in to knock the Skarmory in the head.

Not wanting to take any damage, Iris gave another simple command, "Take flight." Skarmory flapped its mighty wings once more and then flew into the air.

Dori smiled and thought to herself, ~_This is going to be interesting…_~

-Meanwhile, down in the Green Room-

Harley, who had been as sneaky as he could have been wearing a Cacturne costume, grabbed something out of Dori's pack, which had been left unattended, and snuck back to his pack. Drew watched from the shadows, trying to get some sort of hint of exactly what Harley had snatched from said pack.

Harley looked through the book, which turned out to be Dori's diary, trying to find some sort of information which could assist him in convincing Dori to step down from their potential semi-final bout.

Drew continued his vigil over Harley and his actions, equally convinced that there was something in there of great use, at least to the extent that he could prove up what he thought was true.

After about 90 seconds of looking through what Harley described as "useless drivel", he finally struck on a nugget of gold on a recent page. He chuckled and said, "If she knew that I found this, she would bend over backwards to assure that I advance to the final."

Drew frowned and continued his watch. ~_He'll have to fight his first round bout soon, and I'll be able to swoop in then and figure out what's up._~

-Back in the Arena-

The battle raged on, neither side giving the other an inch of breathing room. Skarmory had spread Spikes across the floor, making it especially treacherous for Skitty.

Dori wasn't worried, though, for Skitty was quite practiced in avoiding obstacles. She commanded, "Hit it hard with Thunderbolt!"

Unlike many of the other attacks in this third bout, Skitty's Thunderbolt actually hit its mark, clipping Skarmory's wing and paralyzing the wing. The result of this was a tailspin which sent the metallic bird back to the ground just as time ran out.

Skarmory got back up with some difficulty a few moments later, which meant that neither opponent had been knocked out. That was a problem for the judges, who had to confer with one another for the first time to determine the result of the match.

Up until the last Thunderbolt struck Skarmory, they were pretty sure they were going to give the victory to Skarmory, due to the fact that it had been able to force Dori to play its game.

However, since the last strike brought down Skarmory, and severely limited its mobility… had the match gone on, it would have likely ended in Dori's favor. That fact was all the judges needed to remember.

"The winner, by judges' decision… is Dori and Skitty!" The head judge said to the crowd. Dori looked very pleased as Skitty ran back and leapt into her partner's arms. Dori waved to the crowd, but as she did, she saw a sight which made her frown for just a minute.

She asked herself, _What could she be doing here? _The thought quickly passed though, as Dori got ready to leave the field.

Iris looked at her partner and said, "You did pretty good, Skarmory. Come on, let's go." She recalled Skarmory and left without saying a word to Dori.

Dori remained on the field for about a minute more before she returned to the Green Room to wait for her next round match-up.

ToyAgumon had been whistling for her partner, much to the chagrin of her "ride". "Are you done?" Josh asked of the toy dinosaur.

ToyAgumon stopped and then looked at the back of Josh's head. "Sorry, just got a bit excited."

Ryo added, "I don't think anyone blames you for that, ToyAgumon."

James shook his head and added, "I know if Jess was here, and she did that well, I'd be excited for her too."

Josh then observed, "Be that as it may, at least you wouldn't be whistling right into my ear."

ToyAgumon looked embarrassed for just a second before regaining her form.

Down in the hallway, Dori ran right past Caryl as she was making her way up towards the arena for her first-round battle. "Hey, good luck! Hope we can meet in Round Two!"

Caryl nodded lightly and said pretty weakly, "Yeah. Hope I can make that happen for us..." Dori didn't notice, since she was still very excited about her win, especially since it put her a step closer to the Ribbon.

As Dori blew by them both, Harley came up behind Caryl and whispered, "Don't tell me you're having second thoughts about our little deal…"

Caryl quickly shook her head and said, "No, our deal is still on, Harley. Let's… just get this over with." She shook her head again as she made her way into the arena. ~_Something tells me I'm going to feel really crook about this tomorrow…_~

In the arena, the energy was electric after the 'chess match' which took place in the third bout. "We can only hope for better in this, the final match of the first round!" The MC told the excited crowd.

"First up, it's Caryl!" She was met with a lot of cheers, but her signature energy was somehow missing, a fact which didn't escape the gaze of the Destined in the arena.

"What on Earth is going on here?" Ryo asked immediately, knowing something was off.

"I don't think I've ever seen Caryl this down about anything. You'd think she'd be excited to be in the second round for the first time." Josh noted.

James pointed out another theory, "Maybe she's just nervous about this being her first time in the Battle Round."

"And next up is Harley!" The Cacturne lover came out, with a lot more vim and vigor than his opponent.

Josh observed, "I still think there's something creepy about him… don't ask me why. I can't put my finger on it."

Ryo looked down and got a bit of a chill up his spine as well. "I can see what you mean, now that you mention it."

The MC, anxious to get this match on, yelled out, "Let the final match of the quarter-finals begin!"

Caryl's response was still very weak as she pulled out her Poké Ball, "Go… Cyndaquil." Cyndaquil popped out, and had 20 times more emotion than Caryl did at that moment. "Cynda!" it cried out, glad to be battling again.

Harley called out, "Time to go to work, Cacturne!" tossing out his Poké Ball in the process. Coming forth from the Ball was the intimidating Cacturne, ready to do battle.

Caryl had been told to "make it look good" by Harley, so she got to work immediately. "Cyndaquil, use Flame Wheel."

Cyndaquil responded immediately, running directly at the Grass-type, flames spewing off of its body. Surprisingly, Cacturne took the hit, and took it in stride. As it was mentioned before, this was mostly in the act of "making it look good".

Harley then commanded of his Pokémon, "Use Cotton Spore now!" Cacturne sent out a cloud of spores, which stuck to the running Cyndaquil… at least to all the parts of Cyndaquil which weren't actively burning. As a result, Cyndaquil got a lot heavier… and a lot slower in a hurry.

Harley smirked from his side of the arena directly at Caryl. ~_That's right… just let me win, and you'll be free from my little… insurance policy_.~

-Meanwhile, backstage…-

Drew dug through Harley's pack, trying to find Dori's precious book. The one thing Drew was apparently good at was hiding from potential gazing eyes, such as those of Dori herself as she walked back to her corner to get Skitty ready for the semi-final.

Drew eventually found the book and immediately saw a bookmark stuck inside, marking out one page in particular. He turned to that page immediately and began to read the entry which he figured must have been the one of interest to Harley.

"_I know I like him a lot. But, what if I tell him, and he doesn't like me back? I'd be crushed… so, _

_should I tell him… or not?"_

Drew went on to read the identity of the person whom Dori was referring to, and his jaw dropped when he got to the end. "That scumbag would dare manipulate these kinds of feelings to get what he wants?! Is there no end to the depths he can go?"

Looking across the room, he knew that there was no way to return the diary to its rightful place, especially with Dori right there. So, he knew what he had to do. For now, the book had to return to Harley's pack, and the pack returned to its rightful place. Then, he went up above, knowing exactly who he needed to seek out.

At the very last second, Kyle looked up from his work with Taillow, thinking he heard something. But, he saw no one, then shrugged and went back to work.

-Meanwhile, on stage…-

The battle hadn't lasted more than a minute after Cyndaquil was inundated with Cacturne's Cotton Spores. Skillful use and placement of attacks such as Hammer Arm quickly sent the fiery mouse flying right out of the competition.

The crowd applauded Harley's efforts, while Caryl patted Cyndaquil on the head and whispered, 'We'll get them next time.'

Both walked off the stage, and Ryo got up, planning to console his girlfriend after her devastating loss.

Down below, Harley handed Caryl the papers she so desperately wanted to burn to cinders, "Here's your papers. They're worthless to me."

After accepting the papers, Caryl simply stated, "You got what you wanted. And so did I. So do me a favor… and bugger off."

Harley smirked and then added one more thing, "Don't mention any of this to anyone. Wouldn't want word to get out, eh?" He walked down the hallway and back to the Green Room.

Caryl was quick to burn the papers to pieces, and then began to walk down the hall, sighing to herself. _Guess I ask for it sometimes with my shenanigans_.

Ryo intercepted her and gave her a big hug. "It's all right. There's always the next Contest for you."

Caryl wanted to cry with the support that Ryo was showing, but she remained strong and smiled back at her caring boyfriend. "Thank you for saying that."

After a few moments of hugging, Ryo suggested, "Come on. Let's go back to where Josh, James and I were sitting. We can root on Kyle and Dori in the semi-final."

Caryl nodded and began to walk back with Ryo. Though she couldn't say anything at that moment, she had a great deal of concern for how Dori would fare against Harley in the semi-finals.

"That was odd." Alan commented. After finishing their lunch, he and Zoey had found their own places in the audience.

"Something wrong?" Zoey asked.

"That was the crazy one, otherwise known as Caryl." Alan said. "Usually she's as energetic as the Energizer Bunny. It's not like her to be that subdued."

"Could it have something to do with what happened yesterday?" Zoey ventured, though she still didn't know what _had_ happened.

"Possibly," Alan said dryly. "But..."

"But what?"

Alan was silent for a moment, and then asked "Did it look to you like that Harley guy wasn't even trying?"

-About 5 minutes later, on stage-

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to begin the semi-finals!" The MC told an enthusiastic crowd.

"First up, it is the bout between Kyle, who dominated Round One with his Taillow, and Mary, who took the first round by storm with her Buneary!"

Both trainers came out at the same time, walking alongside one another and waving to the crowd.

As he did before, Kyle held out his hand and said, "Good luck."

Mary took it with a smile and responded, "Good luck to you too!"

After both took their places in the arena, the MC took a dramatic pause before announcing, "Let the semi-finals begin!"

Like before, Kyle called out Taillow, and Mary called out Buneary. Mary's first command for Buneary was pretty simple, "Use Fake Out, Buneary!"

The rabbit's response was to disappear, appear a moment later right in front of Taillow's face and clap very loudly, startling the airborne Pokémon.

Kyle immediately asked Taillow to focus before thinking of an idea. "Use Double Team… now!"

Taillow's response was to create a number of illusory images of itself to take advantage of the fact that Buneary had to get up close and personal to attack.

Mary giggled lightly, adding, "That's a rather clever tactic. But… can your Pokémon remain in control?" Kyle was rather confused by that statement… until Buneary responded by showing Taillow a lot of Swagger.

The crowd cheered for the stylish move which also proceeded to make Taillow very angry, veins popping out all over his head.

Immediately, Kyle yelled out, "You have got to stay focused on the task at hand!" A task which was rather difficult for Taillow to do; the bird charged toward the ground and smacked itself on the ground as Buneary hopped out of the way just in time.

Kyle groaned as the bird got back up, slightly dizzy.

-Meanwhile, in the Green Room-

Dori was having a similar conversation with Harley about how he held a very special piece of information which he could use to potentially destroy Dori's life.

And like Caryl before her, the potential to have this secret ripped from her diary and delivered right to the man who she mentioned hit a very sensitive spot. So, like Caryl, she decided it would be better to concede, rather than take the big risk.

Unlike what happened with Caryl, though, someone else knew what was going on, and he was about to blab it out.

-Up in the Stands-

A frantic Drew looked around, found where Ryo and company were sitting, and proceeded straight over there to deliver the news. James blinked when he saw the young man coming and asked, "Who is that?"

ToyAgumon looked over and then giggled lightly. "That's Drew. He was the one who had the Roselia which tripped back in the Appeal Round."

Drew panted as he approached, grabbing Ryo's attention as well. He waved to Drew and then asked, "What's up? You look like you've been running from something."

Drew, still panting, replied, "Not from… I came to tell you something." After a further few moments to catch his breath, he continued, "I think Dori's in serious trouble."

As before, Josh's head perked up just a bit, but it was Ryo who would ask the question. "What makes you so sure of that?"

Drew then went on to explain that he'd been hiding backstage ever since he lost, because he was convinced that someone had been cheating the competition since the beginning.

It was there that he heard about Caryl being blackmailed by Harley. Ryo's reaction was to stand up and grab Drew by the collar.

"And you didn't think it would be a good idea to step out and do something?" Ryo asked, now very suspicious.

Caryl, strangely enough, would be the voice of reason here. "Think about it. If he had said something right then, chances are that Harley had something in store for him as well."

After an additional moment of holding Drew up, Ryo put him back down again and sat down.

Caryl then asked, "Would you please continue, Drew?" It was very unusual to hear Caryl being so calm.

Drew then continued, "He stole Dori's diary, and marked an entry, which I think he's going to tell her he's going to read… unless she throws the match!"

James began to shake his head and replied, "I don't think even the current Jessie would ever sink that low."

Ryo was seething underneath his normally calm exterior, unable to believe it himself.

Meanwhile, Josh, for the first time in quite awhile, wanted to get really angry. He wanted to get very angry and possibly do something completely irrational, but he couldn't. It was the most annoying sensation one could imagine.

So, instead, Josh got up, surprising even Ryo. "What are you doing?"

In a very calm voice, Josh responded, "I'm going to go take care of this." He walked off then, ToyAgumon still riding on his back.

The voice which Josh used to answer Ryo's question was the sort of voice which would make even the most hardened of criminals shake in their boots. One which suggested a hidden rage underneath the exterior… and even though Josh had no such thing, it still evoked that kind of fear.

On the way down to the arena's tunnel, Josh ran into Casey, who had finally decided to come back in.

After knocking her down and continuing onward, Casey yelled, "Watch where you're going!"

Josh didn't respond at all, and just kept walking. Casey got a little bit miffed, but before she could move any further, Drew held her up. "I wouldn't get in his way right now, Casey."

Casey asked very sharply, "Why shouldn't I?"

Drew's response was to whisper into Casey's ear about what was going on. Once she heard, she immediately backed off. "Oh… I see." Casey wasn't in the mood to end up beaten badly, so she backed off.

-Back in the Arena-

Things had turned around for Kyle since the battle began, largely because of his continued encouragement. It was through his constant chatter that Taillow learned to recognize the signs of what Buneary was trying to do: make Taillow feel sorry for it with the use of Fake Tears.

With Kyle's encouragement, Taillow was able to stay focused and ruin Samantha's plan to toy with Taillow's emotions. That layer of her strategy gone, she was left basically with Jump Kick as an offensive option.

Kyle took full advantage of this fact and said, "Stay airborne and be ready to dodge!" Every time Buneary left the ground, it went through one of the many images of Taillow from the previous Double Team attack. Then, inevitably, it was smashed against an obstacle, as the momentum built up by the jump was turned against the small bunny.

It was through this practice of non-violent battle that Kyle finally gained the upper hand and eliminated Buneary with only seconds to spare in the round.

Taillow flew down as soon as Buneary was knocked out and perched on Kyle's shoulder. "Taillow!" he boasted happily.

The crowd once more was quite pleased with the results. They didn't particularly care who won or lost, so long as they got excitement in their bouts.

The MC walked over to Kyle and nodded lightly. "Congratulations. You're on to the Finals for the second straight Conference. Good job!" Kyle shook the man's hand, and then proceeded backstage, congratulating Samantha on a fantastic effort on her way back.

Samantha giggled and then added, "I'll be gunning for you at the next Conference."

Kyle smiled back and said, "I always look forward to the challenge."

-Meanwhile, in the hallway…-

Dori and Harley were making their way to the arena. Like Caryl before her, Dori's attitude was very subdued as she made her way to the battleground.

But, before they reached the tunnel leading directly into the arena, both of them had to stop, for there was someone standing right in the doorway. Harley bumped right into him, and stepped backward. Dori heard the noise and looked at the figure, before gasping.

Right there in the doorway was Josh, with ToyAgumon still on his back. Coming up from behind, Kyle and Samantha both stopped when they saw the stare-down ahead of them. Kyle blinked and then looked at Josh, recognizing ToyAgumon. "What's going on here?" Kyle asked.

In the same tone that Josh had used since he left the stands, Josh suggested, "Get one of the judges in here. They're going to want to see this."

Kyle was quick to comply, and ran back into the stadium to get one of the judges.

Harley knew a lot more about the scenario than Josh and Kyle obviously knew about. So, his response to Josh's bravado was one with a sinister connotation to it. "Well, well, well… if it isn't a knight in shining armor… get out of my way."

Josh stood his ground, remaining completely calm. "And how about you tell everyone about what you've been doing to get ahead in this competition?"

Harley smirked and then asked, "And what if I say no, hmm? What do you plan to do about it? Attack me, and you'll be hauled off for assault!"

All the while, Dori thought in her head, ~_Please… just let it end okay_.~ She closed her eyes, unable to watch.

Josh's response to Harley's question, though, was pretty simple. "Oh, I'm not going to be the one doing the attacking, Harley." He then looked back at ToyAgumon and said simply, "Sic' em."

ToyAgumon normally wouldn't have accepted a command from anyone else, but in this case, she leapt off of Josh's back and yelled out, "Toy Flame!" as the blocky flame shot out of the Digimon's mouth towards the opponent.

It went without saying that Harley wasn't exactly anticipating an indirect attack. And seeing that Toy Flame came from ToyAgumon's mouth, he couldn't even claim that Josh had attacked him, since Dori's Skitty used Assist and brought forth the attack back in the Appeal Round.

As a result, Harley had to leap out of the way of the attack. And as he did, a small pebble, a mirror and a magnet fell out of Harley's clothes, along with a book which Dori grabbed in a huge hurry. "My diary!" she yelled out excitedly.

Conveniently, at that moment, the judge came up the hallway, led by Kyle. "Come on!"

The judge was none too pleased about this behavior. "This had better be important, Kyle."

Harley was mentally startled. ~_It didn't take long for me to be knocked down, did it?_!~ He scrambled to pick up his items before they were discovered. And while he was able to get the mirror and pebble back, Kyle stepped on Harley's hand before he could re-claim the magnet.

The judge picked up the magnet as Harley struggled to get his hand out. Then his mind thought back to the Magneton back in the Appeal Round which mysteriously lost its ability to hover. "It was you who did this?!" The judge asked in an accusing tone.

Harley suddenly realized that he was busted. He decided his best bet was to come clean now, and escape with minor penalties. "Yeah… it was me. But, after that trainer got hurt by his own Pokémon, I felt so bad…"

Dori tried to interject, "But…"

Harley continued, interrupting Dori's interjection, "… so bad that I officially swore off ever doing something like that ever again. Come on, Judge, I've made one mistake. I at least deserve a second chance."

Josh folded his arms over, looking straight at the opposing trainer without any sort of anger in his eyes at all. Kyle stood behind the judge, wondering what he would do in this circumstance.

Finally, after a few moments, the judge came to his decision. "Harley, I'm officially disqualifying you from this competition, and Dori will automatically advance to the final." Harley knew that things could have been a lot worse than they were, so he didn't really complain, even though he fell short of his goal this time.

In fact, he got up and gave a polite bow to the judge as he prepared to leave. "I will be more careful in the future." He left, leaving Dori dumbfounded because she never got a chance to speak.

On the way out, he gave Josh a bit of a glare, as if to warn him to watch his back. Josh, of course, wasn't even remotely threatened by this. ~_As if you frighten me at all. You're a small fish compared to what I have on my back…_~ Josh thought to himself as he watched Harley leave.

The judge then turned to Dori and asked, "Are you all right with the result?"

Dori was completely honest about her feelings, "I feel disappointed that I had to advance to the finals this way, but I'll prove my worth in the bout against Kyle."

Kyle nodded and grinned. "I expect you to give me your best, Dori."

Dori gave Kyle a thumbs-up and grinned back, "You know it, Kyle!"

As they walked back to the Green Room, and the judge went out to the crowd to try and explain why there wouldn't be a second semi-final bout, Dori thought to herself, ~_Boy, that was sure a lucky break…_~

Ryo came by at that moment and saw very little of what had happened. He blinked and looked at his friend. "Are you okay?"

Josh turned back around and said, "It's okay now. Everything's taken care of, Ryo. Let's get back into the stands and get ready to cheer in the final round."

Ryo blinked and asked, "Was I down here so long that I missed the second semi-final?"

Josh snickered and responded, "Not exactly, Ryo… not exactly."

-1 Minute Later, Arena-

Following a less than enthusiastic response from the crowd, who were anxious to see what would have happened in a semi-final bout which would have involved Dori and Harley, the head judge settled back into his seat and promised, "This final will live up to all the hype, and make everyone satisfied about having to wait a few extra minutes."

-9 Minutes Later-

After what seemed an excruciatingly long wait, even though it wasn't even as long as halftime at an American Football game, the MC came out to the center of the arena. "Ladies and gentlemen… this is it! The moment you've all been waiting for! This match will decide the champion of the Fallarbor Conference, and the winner of this lovely ribbon!" He displayed it for all the world to see; or at least those gathered in the contest hall. The crowd cheered.

Then, it was time to bring on the finalists. "Would you please welcome our two finalists?" The MC asked the crowd in an enthusiastic voice. The crowd was more than happy to oblige the MC, welcoming Kyle and Dori back to the stage.

Both came out, waving to the crowd, and looking at one another, their competitive juices flowing once more. They were both clearly ready to do battle. To further emphasize the point, the MC told everyone, "Just three minutes from now, we will have our champion! Let the final match begin!"

As had been done several times before this, Kyle and Dori called out their Pokémon, Taillow and Skitty.

Kyle would be the first to issue a command. "Swoop down and use Wing Attack!" Taillow was very quick to oblige and shot down before Dori could react, causing Skitty some damage.

As Taillow flew back into the sky, Dori would issue her first command, "Counter with Thunderbolt now!" Skitty charged up, and then shot a lightning bolt into the air, trailing behind the bird very quickly.

Kyle, however, was a little bit quicker on the draw than his female counterpart. "Take a dive now, Taillow!" he told his companion. Taillow dropped in height, and avoided damage.

Dori wasn't the least bit disheartened by the tactics displayed by Kyle. After all, he did win the Slateport Conference for a reason. But, she wasn't about to be outdone. "Skitty, leap into the air!" she commanded of her partner.

Kyle blinked and looked up as Skitty leapt up and grabbed onto Taillow, dragging him back to earth. "Use Wing Attack and knock Skitty off!" he yelled out.

Dori, though, was a little bit faster with the command, "Skitty, use Thunderbolt now!" And before Taillow could even react, it was being jolted by a powerful bolt of electricity.

Dori thought that move would do it, and she would win. Kyle, however, knew better, commanding, "Wing Attack… now!"

Dori looked up, surprised, but sure enough, the sounds of "Taillow!" echoed from the sky as he whacked Skitty multiple times, finally forcing her to let go and fall back to the ground.

Kyle grinned and said, "Great job, Taillow! Now, use Double Team!" As Skitty hit the ground, on her feet naturally, she would see that instead of a single Taillow, there were now 10 Taillow in the air.

Kyle looked confident as he announced, "Use Quick Attack and send her flying!" The 10 Taillow clones flew around and around the small kitty, before finally coming in, one at a time it seemed.

Skitty took hit after hit from the attack, flying further and further into the air. After several of these, Kyle issued a secondary command, "Take Skitty for a ride!" Using insulated talons, Taillow grabbed Skitty and took her up to the top of the arena.

Dori yelled out, "Skitty! Be careful!" She knew that because of the talons, Thunderbolt wouldn't be very effective, nor would Ice Beam, due to the close proximity.

So, clearly, the best option was to wait it out. And 30 seconds later, Taillow dropped Skitty directly onto the Arena floor after performing a nose dive. It was an interesting tactic which had a result as Skitty crashed into the ground.

Taillow, meanwhile, reestablished its position in the air, all 10 images surrounding Skitty from above.

Dori thought about this for a moment and then smirked, coming up with a plan. "Skitty! Time to go for a spin! Use Ice Beam!" In truth, these two seemingly separate commands were actually one combined command.

Skitty began to spin in place, moving faster and faster before looking up and firing an Ice Beam towards the ceiling. Kyle was completely confused by the tactic, but Ryo and company above weren't.

"That's a rather clever maneuver," Ryo observed.

"Would seem to be a rather useful way to deal with this particular threat," Josh said, secretly very happy that Dori was doing so well.

Casey grinned and began writing down something on a piece of paper, to remember this technique for future battles.

ToyAgumon yelled out, "Finish him off, Dori!"

Dori did just that, as the Ice Beam was aimed at such an angle that it went through the 9 illusions and then hit the real Taillow, freezing it on the spot as it fell from the sky. Kyle ran underneath the falling ice cube and caught it before it could shatter on the ground below and endanger his Pokémon.

Luckily, he did catch it, much to the relief of everyone in the audience, and especially Dori. "Is he going to be okay?" the concerned trainer asked Kyle.

Kyle nodded lightly. "After some time in the Pokémon Center, he'll be just fine."

Of course, stepping into the arena during a Pokémon battle was strictly against the rules, so the judge had no choice but to disqualify Kyle.

"That means we have a champion! Please give it up for Dori!" The MC announced as the crowd went wild again. As Skitty leapt into Dori's arms, she took a bow and waved to the crowd.

ToyAgumon whistled again, meaning that Josh's ear drums were unhappy again. Casey looked over at Josh and snickered lightly at his misery.

Even Kyle applauded his rival's efforts to defeat him this time.

The head judge came up onto the stage and proceeded to give Dori her Ribbon for winning Fallarbor Conference, and she shook his hand to thank him for everything he had done during the course of the day.

-20 minutes later, just outside Fallarbor Contest Hall-

Zoey patted Dori on the head and said, "Congratulations on winning, Dori! You were awesome out there!"

Dori blushed lightly and said, "Thanks, Zoey."

Zoey then turned her attention to Kyle. "For someone who can't make up his mind on what he wants to do, you did pretty well too."

Kyle smiled and shook Zoey's hand. "Thanks. I just wish we'd gotten to meet during the competition. That would have been fun to see."

Zoey smiled back and said, "There's always next time, Kyle."

Dori then had a bit of a confession to make, "Zoey… I'm… in the same boat as Kyle. I fight at Pokémon Gyms as well as in Pokémon Contests…"

Zoey looked pretty surprised to hear this, to be frank. And while she might have been upset on most occasions, with the memory of her battle against Kyle still fresh in her mind, she strangely wasn't. "Maybe there is something to being indecisive after all…" She said in a joking manner.

Everyone had a laugh with Zoey before Josh looked around and asked, "Do you know where Drew got to? Without him, we'd never have been able to expose Harley for what he was."

Zoey thought about it, and then responded, "He left rather fast after the Conference was over; something about wanting to get on the road and start preparing for the next Conference."

Caryl scoffed and said, "Just like a typical boy to shoot through…" Ryo sweatdropped and blushed lightly.

"Meanwhile, we have a situation." Alan said. "It's probably safer for everyone if I don't travel with certain members of our party anymore."

Caryl was about to pout about it, but Ryo was quick to cover her mouth. He was then quick to suggest, "Maybe for the time being we should split into two parties. One leaves tomorrow, the other leaves the day after."

Alan thought about this, and then nodded. "I'll be in the group which leaves tomorrow."

Ryo immediately added, "I'll be in the second group, along with Caryl and Casey." Casey would give Ryo a bit of a dirty look, but she knew that he was right about this.

Dori remarked, "I'd like to be in the group that leaves tomorrow. This place doesn't do a whole lot for me…" The end of her statement was a bit tapered off.

Ryo then suggested, "Josh, why don't you go with Alan?"

Josh's face paled for an instant, but he quickly recovered himself. "Sure, that'll work."

"In that case, I'll be going with Alan too," James stated.

Ryo blinked and asked, "Why?"

James sighed and looked out toward the west exit of Fallarbor Town. "My two friends are still out there, and still under the influence of the Digi-Egg of Darkness. If anyone can help them, it's Alan. And I'm going to be right there when he does."

"You may be giving me too much credit there." Alan noted. "But you're welcome to join us."

Kyle looked at everyone, and then sighed. "Guess that means I'm going with Ryo, Caryl and Casey, huh?"

Casey looked at Kyle and responded, almost mock hurt, "Don't make it sound so bad!"

With that settled, everyone began to drift away to do their own things, leaving Alan with Zoey. "Um... listen." she began. "Do you want to have a look round town with me?"

_'With me'_ Alan noted mentally. "I have something I need to do first." he said. "Can I meet you somewhere in about half an hour?"

-Pallet Town, 4:30 P.M.-

Izzy was hard at work on some project or another. No one could really tell, since Izzy had always been such a workaholic in the first place. So, it was quite startling to suddenly have his screen light up with a telephone call.

When Izzy picked up, he saw Alan's face on the other end and blinked. "Hi there," he said simply.

"Hey there," Alan replied. "Look… I need a favor from you."

"What's that?" Izzy asked, his face still slightly confused.

"Well… I need to drop off the Digi-Eggs and my Digivice with you." Alan told him, sounding reluctant.

Izzy immediately shot up and asked, "Why, did something happen to them?"

Alan shook his head rapidly. "No… I just… don't trust myself with their power right now. "

"Why not?" Izzy asked.

"Well... did anyone your end pick up a massive surge of Darkness last night?"

Izzy nodded. "Yeah; from not for from where you guys are."

"Right... that was me."

Alan related to Izzy what had happened, the picture painting itself very quickly in Izzy's head, and he immediately understood the request. "I understand… in that case, I will hang onto the Eggs until you feel like you can handle them."

Through the 'magic' of the PC Storage System, Alan deposited his D-Terminal and Digivice into Izzy's Lab at Pallet Town.

"The other upside, of course, is that by the time you get them back, your Digi-Eggs should be fully recharged with Digital Energy." Izzy added.

The young man nodded. "That should help, given what we've found out…" Shortly thereafter, they cut off contact with one another.

At that moment, however, Alan heard a voice come from behind him. "Who would have guessed you would turn out to be a psychotic?"

Immediately, Alan's blood began to boil as he whipped around and faced two familiar figures behind him. "What the hell are you doing here, Miller?" Alan asked, his voice going as cold as ice, Trey and Dakarimon seeing the black and green in his eyes.

"What do you think? I heard you were having problems controlling your emotions, so I decided to see if I could help." Trey replied.

"You've done enough to 'help' us, thank you." Alan replied, now sounding a bit more hostile.

Dakarimon scoffed. "If that were true, we wouldn't be here, now would we?"

"Oh, it's quite true." Alan replied angrily, "What makes you think you can lecture me on controlling my emotions, Trey? None of us have forgotten what you did in Mauville."

"I... had my reasons." Trey replied, lazily.

"You were bored?" Alan suggested.

Trey laughed. "Bored? No, annoyed. You of all people should know that trash should be put where it belongs."

Hearing this, Alan snorted. "I don't know what the standards are for a Digidestined where _you_ come from, but last I checked, Gennai and company generally prefer their Digidestined not to have "serial killer" listed under 'Other Occupations'.

"I find it quite unlikely you've never killed." Dakarimon spoke up. "You have a killer's eyes."

"Once or twice," Alan admitted with a shrug. "But, when dealing with Grunts R Us, unconsciousness generally suffices." He glanced over at the Rookie-level Wolf. "You say I have a killer's eyes. When was the last time you looked into your partner's eyes, Dakarimon?"

"Hmm? Oh, it's not his eyes I need to look at, boy. You see, like you and your familiar, Kendrix, I 'd guess, Trey and I have a link," said Dakarimon.

Trey shook his head. "Enough, Dakari; Alan wouldn't listen to reason even if it was his own mother. Some people just have to have it beaten into them."

Alan cracked his own knuckles. "Bring it." he replied.

"Oh, I insist." Trey beckoned with his fingers, "After you."

After a moment's hesitation from Alan, he almost immediately went into a sprint and delivered a punch into Trey's face. Normally, Trey would have dodged that attack without much of a problem. But today, he was out to prove a point, so he let it happen.

Alan frowned and told him, "It isn't going to be very satisfying to beat you to a pulp if you're not trying."

Dakarimon rolled his eyes and observed, "He won't even take a gift when you give it to him…"

Trey shrugged. If that was how Alan wanted him to participate, he supposed showing a little bit of skill wouldn't hurt. He began to attack and defend as effectively, if not better than Alan. The major difference between the two came in the location of their respective blows.

Whereas Alan was always aiming for the places where he could cause the most pain, like the gut, the head, the groin or the throat, Trey seemed to be merely attempting to disable him. So, his attacks came to the legs, the arms and occasionally into Alan's gut.

"Don't tell me you're going soft!" Alan yelled as he threw a roundhouse kick into Trey's noggin.

Trey ducked out of the way and grabbed Alan's leg before throwing him back down to the ground. "You must have control, young padawan. Flailing wildly won't get you far against me… and it won't get you far against any of the evils in Hoenn."

"Shut up!" was Alan's short reply, sending a powerful punch at Trey's gut again. But, Alan was telegraphing his moves far too much, and allowing Trey the chance to slide out of the way.

"Your anger is getting the better of you." Trey observed. Just as he said that, though, Alan managed to get in a strike, hitting Trey squarely with an uppercut to the jaw. As his head flew back, Trey thought to himself, ~_I'm going to feel that tomorrow_.~

"And your ego is getting the better of you." Alan observed.

Dakarimon's loud sigh alerted Trey to his partner's opinion that he should end this fight now, so he proceeded to do just that. As Alan went for another punch, Trey stepped into it, grabbing Alan and throwing him over his shoulder to the ground. He reached out and caught Dakarimon's naginata as the wolf tossed it, spun and leveled the blade to Alan's throat.

Alan smirked.

Trey had about a second to realise that Alan's clothes had bleached to green-so-dark-it-might-as-well-be-black before Alan's hands moved and Dakarimon's naginata _shattered_. Dakarimon's eyebrows rose, and his ears twitched.

Alan rose, his rage restored to its previous peak, Shadow Claw enveloping his hands and forearms. With a feral roar, he lashed out in an upwards strike. Trey screamed as the Ghost attack ripped through his body. Alan followed that up with two more strikes across Trey's body, then bunched his right Claw into a fist and punched his hated enemy in the face with it. It was _incredibly_ satisfying for Alan to watch Trey fly through the air and smash into the opposite wall.

"That can't be good." Izzy noted, as the energy scanner registered the massive surge in Darkness. He looked down at Alan's Digivice. Alan had always preferred the black-and-green colour scheme, to differentiate his Digivice from T.K.'s one. Now, given what Izzy has learned of Alan's darker self, the choice had become somewhat ironic.

_I pity the poor bastard who set Alan off this time_ Izzy thought. _I just hope either Alan can get control of himself... or the other Digidestined manage to stop him._

Alan's Digivice, unaware of Izzy's thoughts and its owner's current situation, simply sat there, pulsing quietly to itself.

Dakarimon's surprised look went away after a second. Clearly, Alan was no longer even going to attempt to stay in control. That meant that unless he stepped in, Trey would either need to up the ante, or run. The lupine sighed, _I hope my will is up to date…_ He took a step and then dashed forward, catching Alan in the right kidney with a solid snap kick.

Alan staggered a bit and turned toward Dakarimon. _Great, that places him at high Champion level. Screw the will, I hope someone has a 'Revive the Fallen' lying around, cause this is going to freaking hurt._ Dakarimon stepped back a pace or two and slid into a highly defensible stance. "Bring it, Wilkinson."

Alan's form blurred as he moved forward at superhuman speeds, catching Dakarimon by surprise as he slipped within his guard and grabbed him by the throat, lifted the taller male into the air and held him. "I think the world has had enough of you, wolfie; time to meet your maker." His arm darkened as energy surged around it and took the shape of a blade.

"Dakarimon, fire at will!"

Dakarimon's hands flared as he unleashed one of his specialty attacks, a superheated ball of plasma directly at Alan's face. Alan dropped him and dived out of the way. Dakarimon coughed from his crouched position.

As he stood, he sensed something behind him. Before he could turn around, he felt Alan's breath on his neck. "Two points, dog boy." Dakarimon's eyes widened in surprise, right before he felt the empowered impact of Alan's boot to his groin; he was launched forward, tumbling into a fetal position as he fought to reign in the pain.

Alan laughed coldly. "Oh, I could definitely get used to this. I can see why people get so addicted. The power is _incredible_." He calmly walked toward where Trey and Dakarimon were busy trying to gather themselves.

"Options?" asked Trey. He cautiously made his way over to Dakarimon.

"Escape and evade, or get pounded on even more by the English ponce, over there," grunted Dakarimon. He finally made it to one knee. "He's running at high Champion level, at least."

"Damn, and it's too early."

Dakarimon nodded. "We set him off, so we either attempt to clean up the mess we started, or we get out of here before he does something like what the others could do, like Digivolve."

Trey decided not to bother asking if that was even possible. Instead, he started to head for the door.

"And where do you think you're going?" Alan asked, sing-song. "This isn't over."

Trey turned to him, "Until you either grow out of your urge to kill any who operate outside of the way you like, or die, this fight is over. Learn some control, Wilkinson, and maybe next time we'll actually fight." He turned and took a step only to find Alan now in front of him, slamming into his chest with an open palm thrust. Dakarimon couldn't even react in time to stop Trey from flying by and slamming back into the wall from which he had just came.

"I'm not _trying_ to control it, you stupid hypocrite." Alan hissed. "When you learn how to control _your_ emotions, come back and talk." Alan cocked his head at Trey. "Or perhaps I should put you out of our misery now. Do you have any idea how much Aqua and Magma are asking for your head? Enough, I'll wager, to repair the damage you caused and maybe, with a little luck, something left over for the families of the people you killed." He smirked as Trey jerked in surprise. "Didn't occur to you, did it? Trust me when I say I've got more than enough justification for killing you." A thought struck him and he shrugged. "Not sure the courts will agree with me on that one, but I'll cross that bridge, I suppose."

"You would give reparation to the families of criminals just because you don't agree with how we dealt with them?!" Dakarimon asked, surprise and disbelief laced through his words.

"Hmm, why yes, I believe I would," said Alan. He pulled out a Poké Ball and tossed it. "Kendrix!"

The Psychic Fearow materialised. :_I'm ready, Alan._: she intoned simply.

Dakarimon glanced at Trey who was simply resting in the new hole in the wall. Trey looked back and partially shrugged. Dakarimon took a step to put himself between Alan and Kendrix, and his partner. Alan blurred forward, his Shadow Claw reforming as he caught Trey around the throat and pushed him to a standing position.

:_Now, I can't let you do that, Dakarimon._: Kendrix replied simply. Dakarimon froze as Kendrix's powers clamped down.

Alan turned, regarding the wolf. "If I ask you to, will you melt his brain?" he asked of Kendrix.

:I doubt I can actually melt a brain.: Kendrix replied. :But if you ask me to kill him, I will follow that instruction."

"I find the irony of this situation to be far too much for my liking" said Dakarimon, calmly. He felt Trey's mind calm down, so he held back.

Alan chuckled. "You asked me how many humans I killed, Dakarimon. Care to guess how many _Digimon_ me and mine have killed?" Dakarimon's eyebrow arched, and he almost responded that the question wasn't how many had he killed, but how many innocents had he killed when Trey spoke up.

"I have a question." Trey asked, from somewhere under Alan's Shadow Clawed hand. "Where'd you pick up the ability to do Shadow Claw?"

"Haven't a fucking clue." Alan replied with a shrug. "Damn good question though. Got any more?"

"Just one: If you go through with this, who shall stop _you_?"

"The others have their instructions." Alan replied. "But since none of them seem to be present, here and now there is no-one to stop me."

"I'll stop you!"

"Molly, no!"

So caught up had Alan been in the Darkness consuming him, his attention focused exclusively on Trey and Dakarimon, that he'd stopped wondering where everyone else was. Now he looked down to see a small girl, wearing a very strange hat, presumably the aforementioned Molly, her fists battering ineffectually against his leg. "Let him go, you meanie or I'll beat you up so bad!"

_Oh, __**that**__ Molly. Why couldn't she already be older?_ Trey realised. It was odd, looking at a five-year-old and knowing she would grow up to marry a girl from 1907 who, in turn, would end up on a first name basis with every rose in the San Francisco area. ~_The woman must be Alice Hayes, her mother. I wonder if The Pride is doing something here in the Pokemon world, of if this is just a visit? Or is this perhaps one of those cases of two who exist in multiple universes?~_

The woman Trey's thoughts had identified as wasn't about to let her daughter get into trouble, her eyes beginning to glow pink. :_I wouldn't recommend it_: Kendrix's voice echoed in her head and the woman froze, realising she couldn't do anything without the Fearow intercepting her

Alan looked down at Molly, processing what was happening for a moment. Then his sense of the absurd kicked in and he began to laugh...not the cold laugh from before, but a genuine belly laugh. Darkness or no Darkness, Alan clearly found his attacker hilarious.

"Are you laughing at me?" Molly demanded, reminding both Alan and Dakarimon of Casey. "That's it, I'm gonna splat ya!"

_That_ just made Alan laugh all the harder. "Say 'Ta da da da! Puppy Power!'. Just once." he requested, as evilly as he could manage while killing himself laughing. This had an effect on Alan's clothes, returning them to normal colour.

"You're mocking me?" Molly demanded, her face a vision of outraged shock.

"Oh, I mock you. I mock you to your face."

_Shame she doesn't get her powers for another six years. Alan wouldn't be mocking her then_... Trey thought. The self-proclaimed Princess Powerful could have quite easily knocked Alan into orbit… literally. _Which, at this point, would really simplify my day. Oh well, you play with the cards you're dealt._

As it was, Molly's response to Alan's taunts was to aim a punch at Alan's groin, the only part of his body she could reach. Alan batted it aside, then brought round his other hand and wagged his finger at her...completely forgetting about Trey in the process.

_Ah, there's my wild card._ Trey caught Alan's leg in a tripping maneuver, grabbed him by the hair and slammed him face first into the tiled floor… hard. He proceeded to slowly stand and look at Dakarimon. "Free yourself."

Alice took these distractions as a cue. "Molly, come here!" Molly ran over and Alice and she quickly made their way away from the conflict.

Dakarimon smiled as they left, "With pleasure." His eyes flared and to Kendrix's surprise, she lost control over him. The lupine stretched. "I hate staying in one position for too long." Trey and Dakarimon walked over to a wall a bit away from Alan and leaned against it.

"Shouldn't we be getting out of here?" asked Dakarimon.

Trey groaned and rubbed the back of his head. "Frankly, if Alan actually wakes up within the next couple of minutes, I will be surprised. I need a breather before we move."

Dakarimon looked over his shoulder and groaned. "We should have left immediately, then." Trey turned to see Alan rise to his knees. He facepalmed.

"O w." Alan quipped, rubbing his nose. He pulled a Poké Ball and tossed it toward Trey and Dakarimon, and with a flash Tommy appeared. "Ah, Tommy; you're looking reassuringly orange today."

Tommy's eyes widened as he took in his trainers eyes. "Not again."

"'fraid so," Alan said. "I think I'm winding down though." He glanced at Trey. "Make sure they don't leave."

"Not a problem. I think Kendrix and I can handle anything the throw at us," said Tommy confidently.

"Good." Alan said, and then blinked as he registered his own voice. "Ah, there we go." A thought occured to him, "Note to self: Now would be a really bad time to fall unconscious." As if on cue, a wave of tiredness hit him and he sagged backwards. "Dammit." he muttered, struggling to stay conscious.

"You forgot about that part then." Trey remarked, tiredly.

Alan glared, "If they try to escape, burn 'em to death."

"Understood," Tommy remarked simply.

Trey shook his head and sighed. He glanced at Dakarimon. "If he keeps this up, I'll have to change my name, 'cause he's taking my gig." Dakarimon snorted.

"What is going on in here?" a voice rang out. Everyone looked round to see an angry Nurse Joy, accompanied by a Chansey.

"It's a long story." Alan said, digging through the Berry Pouch of his backpack. He located a Leppa Berry and took a bite. "The upshot of which is: Could someone please call Officer Jenny? I have two people here the police will want to have words with."

Ten minutes and what ended up being three Leppa Berries later, the police arrived, Officer Jenny and several male officers. Trey and Dakarimon quickly found themselves cuffed around the wrists and ankles. Dakarimon was also given a muzzle and Trey's Poké Balls were confiscated. Neither of them put up any resistance.

"Trey Miller, you are under arrest for several counts of murder and several more counts of causing severe harm, both to humans and Pokemon." Officer Jenny said. "It is my great pleasure to make sure you both face justice."

Trey's response was to look at Alan amusedly. "Happy now?" he asked.

"Starting to be," Alan replied. "Back in Mauville, you told me that if you know how to 'screw the pooch', you can get away with it. Well, trust me when I say you're not going to get away with it. Not anymore."

Trey laughed. "You're apparently more of an idiot than I thought you'd be. Oh well, we'll see how everything goes."

Alan blinked. "Kendrix, I don't usually ask you to divulge people's secrets, but what the fuck is he talking about?"

As soon as the word 'divulge' left Alan's mouth, Dakarimon's eyes took on an almost unnoticeable retro-reflective sheen for a second, and had anyone noticed it, three of Trey's Poké Balls also glowed. Kendrix paused for a moment and shook her head.

Kendrix paused for a moment and shook her head. :_I can't tell,_: she admitted. :_They both guards their thoughts well._:

"Oh." Alan said. "Shame. Well, Mr. Miller. I don't know how everything's going to go, but I suspect we'll have fun finding out. You, not so much." He regarded the older man thoughtfully. "And by the way, I don't know what it is you think you know, but life has a way of creating surprises. So, sooner or later don't be surprised if what you think you know turns out to be worth jack-shit."

Trey just smiled, in that way that made Alan want to punch his face in. ~What is it you think you know?~ Alan wondered.

"If you two are done, it's time to take these two into custody." Officer Jenny said.

Alan nodded and stepped back. "They're all yours." he told Officer Jenny.

As the police led Trey and Dakarimon away, Alan turned to the remaining people in the room. "In all the confusion, I don't believe I caught your names."

"Alice Hayes." the woman introduced herself. "And this little troublemaker is Molly." In her head, Alice found herself marveling at the change in the boy's personality. Though there seemed to be an underlying sadness in his eyes, he seemed downright cheerful compared to the blazing fury she'd witnessed earlier.

"Alan Wilkinson. Pleased to meet you." Alan extended his hand and Alice shook it. Alan looked down at Molly, who was hiding behind her mother's leg. "So you're Molly? Why do I look at you and think 'Hitmonchan'?"

Molly brightened. "Hey, those are my favourite Pokemon."

"Those and Machop, right?" Alan asked.

"That's right!" Molly stared at him with a child's wonder. "How'd you know?"

"Lucky guess," Alan replied dryly. he crouched down, meeting Molly's eye line. "Now Molly, you actually did me a really big favour just now."

Molly frowned as she realised what Alan meant. "That wasn't supposed to be funny." she grumbled.

"I understand that," Alan said, "but you making me laugh was really good, because that stopped me from being really angry. And me not being really angry was really, really good, because it stopped me from doing something that, had I done it, those police officers would have been quite annoyed with me."

"You were going to try to kill those two." Molly stated simply, causing Alice to tense.

Alan glanced up at Alice. "Smart kid." he commented, then returned his attention to Molly. "Yeah, I was. But because of you, I didn't. So, thank you."

"You're welcome." Molly said softly.

"What do you think will happen to those two?" Alice asked.

"Well, now that the police have taken them away, the courts will give them a fair trial... and then kill them."

Molly blinked as she processed this. "You old people are _weird_."

"What do you mean 'You old people'?" Alan asked. "I'm recently 13. That's not old."

"Yes it is." Molly insisted with the certainty of a five-year-old.

Alan raised an eyebrow. "I've heard tell of a witch called Rita, and she's over 10,000 years old. Now _that's_ old."

"Wow." Molly's eyes widened. "Is that true, Mom?"

"Yes, dear; I've heard of her too." Alice assured her daughter, with the carefully straight face of someone who'd gotten the reference.

Alan stood up, "Now, as a show of my appreciation - and if it's alright with your mother - how about we go to the Poké Mart nearby and get you an ice-cream?"

Molly's eyes lit up like stars. "Ice-cream!" she cheered. "Can I, Mom? Please?"

Alice smiled. "Yes, alright."

"Yay!"

"Excuse me?" The three looked over to see Nurse Joy, who was near. "Are you Alan Wilkinson?" she asked.

"Yeah," Alan confirmed.

Nurse Joy pointed at the bank of video-phones. "Someone named Izzy is calling for you."

"Probably to find out what's going on." Alan noted.

"But...ice cream." Molly protested.

Alan chuckled. "Two minutes, I promise." he told her

-Fallarbor streets-

-4:46pm-

As Alan was busy speaking with Molly and Alice, the Fallarbor Police frog-marched the shackled Trey and Dakarimon out the back door and into the waiting unmarked car. Officer Jenny climbed into the passenger seat as one of the other officers climbed into the drivers and started the car.

Trey looked around the car quizzically, "While I'm not up-to-date on the standards of _die Polizei_, even I know that this is not the status quo."

Officer Jenny spared a glance to the rear. "Due to your actions in Mauville, the Pokemon League issued an order to all police forces to arrest and detain you in a safe house until a Ranger picked you up for questioning and imprisonment at the League HQ."

Trey nodded absently and watched the streets go by. "Logical. Although, I would think you lot would be thanking me for what I did, not arresting me."

"What you did?!" Officer Jenny looked at him incredulously, "You issued a kill order for your Pokémon and your… Digimon against humans and other Pokemon!"

"Against members of Team Aqua and Team Magma, only; if anyone else's Pokemon died, or human died, it was not at my hand, or those of my partners'."

She shook her head. "I can't believe you'd think that even they weren't above simply detaining and imprisoning. You're what, 20? Welcome to the real world, boy. We don't murder people in cold blood; we arrest them and make them serve hard time."

Trey laughed coldly. "Yes, you feed them, keep them healthy, and make them 'earn money' by breaking big rocks into smaller rocks into pebbles. If they act up, you give them solitary." He paused for a moment. "You know, if I wasn't already cooperating, I'd say 'sign me up!' No work, no bills to pay, no taxes or threats on my life, sounds great!"

He would have continued if they hadn't pulled into a carport. As it was, he sat quietly as they shut the garage door, hauled Dakarimon and him out and into the house. They were lead into the basement and from there, into a reinforced tornado shelter, repurposed as a holding room. He quietly watched as Dakarimon was walked over to one chair and strapped down, before he was not-too-kindly forced into another seat and strapped down, much harsher than when they fastened Dakari down.

Dakari glanced at him and sighed, shaking his head. Trey knew he was thinking 'you and your big mouth, idiot,' and grinned. He turned back to face the two officers who had taken seats directly across from them and his grin got bigger.

A minute later, he started humming.

Dakarimon groaned behind the muzzle. Why did he have to start humming 'The song that never ends'?!

-Fallarbor Poke-Mart-

-5:15pm-

Zoey had just been about to give up on Alan turning up when she saw him approach. She was surprised to see Alan was accompanied by a woman and a little girl.

"With you in a few minutes," Alan told Zoey as they passed, giving her an apologetic look.

A minute or two later, the woman and the girl emerged, the latter tucking into the biggest ice-cream Zoey had ever seen.

"Sorry about that." Alan said. "Things got kinda hectic at the Pokemon Centre." He proceeded to give Zoey a very heavily edited version of events, most notably omitting any mention of 'Darkness' or 'Shadow Claw'.

"So, anyway," he finished, "as long as nothing else happens, I guess I'm all yours. So, what do you want to do?"

"Oh, so many things," Zoey muttered. Then she realised she'd spoken out loud and blushed.

"The night shows promise." Alan quipped, which only made Zoey blush harder. "Sorry, I guess I shouldn't tease you."

"That's ok." Zoey said.

"Tell you what... earlier you suggested that we have a look around town." Alan said. "How about we start with that and see where the night takes us?"

"Sounds like a plan to me." Zoey said.

After several hours spent exploring Fallarbor, 'Where the night takes us' ended up being a motel in the South-East of town. And as Alan spent the night indulging Zoey's fantasies, he managed not to have a single thought about Casey.

- Later that night-

Kendrix sat in her Poké Ball, unable to sleep one little bit. Under normal circumstances, she could easily have read anyone's mind, given enough time. Yet, in this instance, she found herself strangely helpless and unable to read a single thought of Miller's.

In fact, she couldn't read any of Dakarimon's thoughts either, until he wanted her to hear him, that is. _How did that Digimon do that?_ she wondered, the question itself keeping her from enjoying a well-earned night's sleep.

Kendrix only knew of three things that had ever blocked her psychic powers. One, Dark type Pokemon, which was normal. Second, Tommy on the occasions he'd turned into Duskmon, which seemed to be an adaptive power of the Legendary Eggs, at least according to Izzy.

That left only one other: The Machinedramon half of Milleniumon. Which was a _very_ disturbing thought.

Normally, such an issue would have been brought up immediately to Alan, but given his emotional status at the time, Kendrix had been afraid that he really would have killed Miller had he known the real truth.

_Still, I'm going to have to tell him sooner or later. He may wish to use me to fight Dakarimon again._

Which brought up a question of it's own. _Should the need arise, how __**do**__ we defeat them?_ It was unlikely they'd heard the last of Trey Miller....

- Outskirts of Fallarbor-

- Morning-

"What are you gonna do now?" Alan asked.

"Don't know." Zoey admitted. "For some reason, staying in Hoenn to do contests here doesn't appeal."

"Well..." Alan mused. "I hear the Orange Islands are nice this time of year. I know, I know..." he said, holding up a hand as Zoey opened her mouth to protest, "you're a coordinator, not a Gym Battler. But, from what I've heard, the Orange Islands competition is... different. It'll be a good challenge for you." Alan grinned. "Besides, there ain't no rule that says you can't use contest rules in a Gym Battle, you just won't get points for it."

"So I won't be slacking on my contest training." Zoey mused. She gave Alan a suspicious look. "You're not trying to convert me over to Gyms are you?"

"No," Alan replied, then shrugged, "but if you want to think of it that way, call it a taster. See how the other shoe fits."

Zoey considered this. "Yeah, maybe," she grinned slyly. "Speaking of 'taste'..." Zoey kissed Alan for a few moments, a kiss he readily returned. "...I suppose I should thank you for last night."

"Maybe I should be thanking you," Alan replied, "it's not every day I get that offer." He felt a little guilty about deflowering her (he hadn't even thought to ask if it was her first time), but Zoey seemed to be perfectly fine about the whole thing. And it _had_ been her idea...

"I guess this makes me one of your groupies." Zoey teased.

"It makes you my _only_ groupie." Alan retorted.

"But not the last, I should think." Zoey said.

"If you say so," Alan replied, not sounding convinced.

"I do say so." Zoey smiled. "I guess I'd better get going."

"Take care of yourself." Alan said. He watched as she walked away, and then turned back towards town.

"Where is he?" Dori wondered as she arrived near the edge of town with Josh and James, but with no Alan.

"Maybe he had some sort of emergency last night?" ToyAgumon suggested, which wasn't far from the truth.

"I hope he hasn't been kidnapped again." Josh commented, wincing. "Hang on, there he is."

The quartet were confused as they caught sight of Alan... walking _into_ town. "Um... hi, Alan," James greeted.

"Hey, guys." Alan replied, and then sighed. "James, you're on our side now. Stop squirming."

"Why were you coming back into town?" ToyAgumon asked, voicing the group question.

"Hmm?" Alan shrugged. "Just saying goodbye to Zoey; she just left." As one, the four stared at him. "What?"

"Were you with Zoey all night?" Dori asked, giving Alan an accusing look. There was an air of satisfaction in Alan's demanour Dori found very suspicious.

Alan had the decency to look sheepish. "Might have," The noise of an engine interrupted the fledgling interrogation. "Oh, hello," Alan remarked as a motorbike approached. As it got closer, the quintet recognised the familiar form of Officer Jenny.

"Stay here." Alan said, moving past the others and jogging to intercept the approaching bike. He was mildly surprised when they did so.

"What do you think is going on?" James asked as Officer Jenny met their friend. The four would have been somewhat more worried if they'd known that Alan's first words were "So, am I under arrest?" They did, however, see the response as Officer Jenny shook her head. Further conversation followed and they saw Alan groan in exasperation. Further conversation followed, then they saw Officer Jenny drive off.

"So what was that about?" Josh asked.

"That's a long story." Alan began. He filled them in on his talk with Izzy and subsequent encounter with Trey.

"You went Dark again?" Josh asked as they grimaced.

"Yeah," Alan confirmed. "Though if I'm honest I wasn't holding it back; remember, back in Mauville, Trey handed us our asses. Figured I needed the edge," he continued, telling the others about the rest of the fight.

"I'm glad you were able to calm down." Dori said.

"I had help." Alan shrugged. "They do say Laughter is good for the soul..."

"So Trey and Dakarimon are in jail?" James asked.

"They were." Alan replied dryly. "Apparently they escaped at 4 o'clock this morning."

Everyone groaned. "Wonderful." Josh muttered.

"So what now?" Dori asked.

Alan thought for a moment. "You guys go on ahead. I'm going to double back and try to catch Ryo and the others. Let them know what's going on."

"Are you sure?" Dori asked. "We can wait."

"Nah, I'll be only minutes behind." Alan reassured her.

-Outskirts of town, the other direction-

-Earlier that morning, 3:30 AM

Officers Campbell and Todd hoisted the now gagged Trey out of the trunk of the car and stood him up for Officer Jenny to look at him. She stared at the excessive use of duct tape around his mouth and then back at the two men as they helped Dakarimon out of the rear seat.

"Do I even want to know why Miller was in the trunk and gagged so heavily?"

Officer Todd shuddered. "After we got them in there, he started humming the 'song that never ends.' After an hour of that, he switched to show tunes, then to classical music, then to the Mission Impossible theme, then to the 007 theme. Five hours of nothing but incessant humming!"

She looked at Dakarimon who nodded emphatically and to Campbell who tiredly nodded, too. "Right. I shouldn't have asked."

The droning thump-thump-thump of a helicopter was heard as it breached the tree line, hovering over the open field. It was an all-purpose League heli based off of the HAL Dhruv design, silvered matte gray in color with the League emblem across the double door rear. It came down to the ground and hovered maybe a foot off the ground. The rear doors opened and a single Ranger hopped out and jogged over to Officer Jenny.

They quickly said a few words, exchanged papers, signed them, exchanged them back and then Officer Jenny motioned for Todd and Campbell to load them on the heli. With that done, the Ranger loosely saluted and climbed on board, closing the doors.

Inside, the Ranger leaned into the cabin and motioned a thumbs up before turning back to the lads. Dakarimon and Trey, still cuffed and shackled, waved feebly. She pulled out a set of keys and tossed one each to Trey and Dakarimon before sitting back and pulling on the headset and mic.

She waited patiently as the two got out of the cuffs and shackles, and then as Dakarimon pulled on another headset. He looked at her and grinned, "So how do you like your new position, Mandy?"

"If I had known half of what I know now about the two of you, not only would I have not taken the position, but I would have probably tried to kill you myself," she deadpanned.

Trey had pulled a knife out of the first-aid kit under his seat and sliced through most of the tape. He then closed his eyes and pulled. It stayed stuck. As Dakarimon and Mandy watched, he reached back into the first-aid kit and pulled out a small bottle of baby oil. He quirked an eye at Mandy as if to ask if it were hers only to receive a murderous glare in return and Dakarimon laughing.

He shrugged and began working a finger in and around the tape, slowly working it off until he got the entire mouth unsealed. With the knife, he cut that section off and slowly worked his jaw and lips again. He grabbed the third headset and pulled it on. "So, what's for dinner? I'm famished."

Mandy reached beside her and tossed them each an MRE and a bottle of water. "Sorry, we only provide hot meals if you're sticking with us for longer than an hour."

Dakarimon reached over to Trey and jerked the rest of the tape off, getting a loud yelp in return. "It's no problem. We're used to eating less."

Mandy nodded. "I'm sure. Anyway, you letting yourself be captured was a good way for us to finally meet in person and discuss what is going on."

Trey nodded. "That's why we arranged the meeting." He and Dakarimon began to eat.

Mandy opened up a laptop and ran a cable from her headset to it. She typed a few keys and spoke, "Continuing log, timestamp is zero-three-thirty-seven, military. Level two classification, Agents Trey Miller and Dakarimon with Handler Amanda Jenny-Wiles." She looked up. "You can begin whenever you want."

For the next hour, Trey and Dakarimon updated her on everything.

Nearing the end of the flight, Trey glanced around. "Just idle curiosity, but did anyone pick up our belongings?"

"Just your Poké Balls from the local force." She tossed them to him.

He crouched in the cabin and slid the Poké Balls on before looking at Dakarimon and then at Mandy. "I honestly hope you understand what we're about to do."

She sighed and checked the altimeter, "We're about a thousand feet up. You're going to need parachutes." She pointed behind Trey's head. He grinned and handed one to Dakarimon before pulling his on partially and fastening it across his chest and around a leg.

"Can't have it looking like we had time to really prepare, can we?" Dakarimon shrugged his over his shoulders and tightened it there. "Ready, Dakari?"

Dakarimon pulled off the headset and nodded. Trey waved a hand and Dakarimon surged forward, slamming into the double doors, ripping the locks out and tumbling out in a lunge. Trey turned to Mandy and winked before diving out the now destroyed doors, too.

Mandy watched from her seat as the two chutes opened, and sighed. At least this new assignment wouldn't be boring.

Narrator: And so, thanks to some unexpected help from Drew, Dori won her first Ribbon, and new bonds were forged with the Coordinators. But, with the party splitting into two parts, a shroud of uncertainty clouds their path ahead. Will they find their way through the confusion and treachery? What is Trey really up to, and just how deep down the rabbit hole is he?

Next Time: A break from the norm. We've reached the halfway mark of Season 2 (ish), and so we're going to have a little fun at the expense of some of our major characters. What will happen? Will there be any survivors? And will someone dry off that Eevee? That wet dog smell is making this place stink! Anyway, be with us next time for the third Omake: "A Pokémon's Life, or What to Do in Hoenn When You're a Pokémon"!


End file.
